TREASURE HUNT

I’m sure you’ve seen them: the unopened linen hankies, the bottles of perfume, bars of scented soaps and too-good-to-use towels, still in their original box.

Whenever we came across them, my friends and I used to call such items, “Grandma’s closet” finds.

Most of the grandma’s closet things we found at estate sales, flea markets and at the auction were obviously gifts. They had been opened, admired and then put away, considered too special for everyday use. Saved for a special need or occasion, they languished in dresser drawers, on the top shelf in the closet or tucked away in the cedar chest until, finally, they were discarded, dropped off at Goodwill or sold.

I am still drawn to the grandma’s closet things I see when I’m out and about. But, while it is nice to find a vintage object in like-new condition, it is also a little sad to think something was never opened because there wasn’t a time that was special enough. Or, that was considered important enough.

Many years of buying the little things that other women held onto but never used, and then being the one who opened the package and incorporated those items into my home, has left me with a different attitude toward my own closet.

I try to make the effort to take the gifts that my children give me and put them to use. Life is too short to archive our belongings rather than use them.

I’m not a grandmother. Yet. But when that day comes, I hope my closet is full of faded and tattered gifts that were simply too special not to use.