The things I have from my grandmother - her strudel cloth, her Door County Cherries tins - and the things I want from my mom - the yellow mixing bowl that she used for making cookies and everything else - are things that remind me of them and the times we spent together, the times they spent teaching me to do the things they loved to do.
I did not ask for my grandmother's strudel cloth so I could sell it. (Not that I think there is a secondary market for strudel cloths. But even if there were - that would not be why I wanted it.)(Unless I could sell it for $100,000. Then I would totally sell it and I know I would have my grandmother's blessing.)
I asked for it because when I use it or even when I see it, I remember making apple strudel with my grandmother and how much I loved her. It brings back happy memories and I see her beautiful hands, veined and spotted with age, pulling that dough so thin you could read a newspaper through it.
I want these mementos because they make me happy. They remind me of the people I love.
But this - this is not the prose of someone who wanted a totem. In the email that included the spreadsheet asking for $156K, Ted'sWife also wrote,
Also, I’m grateful to receive Doris' jewelry as a keepsake; I love(d) her very much and shall especially treasure her possessions. So far, our jewelers have determined that everything is costume jewelry—not that it lessens its value to me and us.
What is up with that? Is that a passive-aggressive note that Primo needs to keep looking because THE GOOD BRACELET still isn't in Ted'sWife's hands?
(I think she thinks that Primo is saving the Good Jewelry for me. I would tell her that the last thing I want on my body is anything that Doris owned. I do not want a daily reminder of her. But I can't say that because Ted'sWife gets all "I worshiped the ground that saint walked on!" and what do you say to that? Besides, I don't care if I convince Ted'sWife about anything. It doesn't matter. She had her own Doris experience and that's fine.)
Who takes gift jewelry to a jeweler? Why would you do that? I think we can be pretty sure that Sly was not buying Doris any jewelry so expensive that it would need to be insured, i.e., need an appraisal.
1. They never went anywhere! Who buys expensive jewelry to leave in the house?
2. I can't imagine Sly doing anything nice for Doris. He wouldn't even drive her to book club.
3. Doris was not a dressing-up kind of lady. She was an old t-shirt without a bra kind of lady. No judging - I am the unbathed person who wears (the same) gym clothes all weekend while I lie on the basement sofa watching season 4 of "Scandal" on one click of the FF button. Right now, I am wearing makeup - eye shadow and mascara - only because I wore it to work today. I am wearing no jewelry. None. Which only strengthens my argument. I actually do have expensive jewelry that I used to insure. (Now I just hide it.) And I never wear it. I cannot see Doris ever asking for something fancy.
Now that we have all agreed that Doris probably wouldn't have super expensive jewelry, why would Ted'sWife - who had said Doris WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED A MANICURE because she wasn't that kind of person (she implied that Doris was above such petty thinking as personal grooming and glamour) - be thinking there was a diamond tennis bracelet hidden somewhere that Primo is keeping from her?
I wanted my mom's yellow mixing bowl. My evil step-mother kept it. But I will always have my memories of making cookies with my mom in that bowl...
ReplyDeleteI will say it that when i inherited my grandmother's jewelry, I took it to a jeweler. I had to have the rings resized and the jewelry was valuable so I had it appraised for insurance purposes. I wouldn't have breakfast comfortable wearing it (or keeping it anywhere other than a safety deposit box) till I had it appraised and insured.
ReplyDeleteMy parents were poor when they got married, my dad had access to a wood shop with a lathe. He made my mom a cake platter, a rolling pin and a bowl. That was all I wanted. My mom gave them to me a few years before she died (he died long ago). She was always surprised that I wanted them.
ReplyDeleteShe also gave me an engagement ring that was my great-grandmother Ella's. I had to have the diamond chip put back in it and repairs done, now I am saving it to give to my niece Ella.
Memories count, not the possible monetary value.
Some costume jewelry is worth more than you might think. And really Ted's wife is so stupid as to think that Sly's comment about the bracelet's cost meant it was worth thousands?
ReplyDeleteEvil me imagines you buying a fake blingy bracelet at a thrift store. Then you and Primo get your photo taken with said bracelet prominently displayed and Primo makes it his FB profile picture. Let the games begin!
ReplyDeleteMy godmother gave me her sweet 16 ring which is a little pearl thing and probably not worth "real" money but my mother and I still took it to the jeweler to have it cleaned and resized. They also took some very good photos of it for us so if it's ever damaged I can show those to the repair people so they can match up the size of the pearl or fix the engraving. But that's just for sentimental reasons and wanting to pass it on someday.
ReplyDelete