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Dear Reader,
It's my pleasure to introduce this year's grand prize writing contest winner, Judith Brightman. Judith was one of seven children, raised by her grandmother. Grandmothers are life changing people and Judith's grandmother (and grandfather) left an impression of warm childhood memories she continues to carry with her today, and it's those memories that inspired her entry.
"I love to write," Judith admits "it's strange because I'll do anything to avoid getting started. Hey, that toilet needs cleaning."
My personal sage advice has always been that it's the little things in life that matter, and it's the story of a box filled with buttons that made the difference in Judith Brightman's life, and she shares "The Button Box" story with us today.
An old wooden box sits on the shelf in Nana's closet. Made of dark wood, it has dovetailed corners that Gramps had hand-cut. Yankee thrift allows no waste so buttons from worn-out clothing are saved in the box.
To keep me amused, Nana lets me sort them. There are metal ones from overalls, rubber ones from union suits, shirt buttons, coat buttons, dress buttons, trouser buttons, wooden ones, plastic ones and some that look like bone. They are cool to the touch and smell faintly of camphor and lavender.
While I string them into sets, Nana begins to tell the buttons like telling rosary beads.
"These are from Gramps' coat, the black one. You remember; oh, no, 'twas before you were born. Well, there, the black plait in the braided rug, that's Gramps' coat."
"These little blue ones from your father's first shirt, matched his blue eyes like a cloudless sky. He was too soon grown and gone. It's not natural, you know. Mothers should go first."
"The red are from my house dress, the apple print one, the one in the quilt in the spare room."
Tiny black ones like the eyes of a teddy bear caught my attention and I looked at her with the silent question.
"They're shoe buttons, from the shoes I wore when I graduated from Normal School, in Adams, you know."
"The green are from Uncle Harry's wool shirt. He was a gandy dancer for the railroad. Wanted to be a signalman, but he was colorblind. Found that shirt hanging on a nail in the barn, years after he'd passed on. Mice had found it too, but I saved the buttons."
"The tiny pink ones are from Baby Sarah's only dress. She never was very strong, that one, sickly from the first. Buried her in the family christening dress. Some thought it a waste, but it was mine to do with and so was she. Little bit of a thing she was. Looked so pretty and peaceful."
"The plain white ones came from here and there. Some I found and some came from hand-me-downs that only made it to the quilt scrap box."
The big black ones with the diamonds are her favorite. "Gramps brought me these from the city. Wanted me to put 'em on a fancy dress. Never had call for a fancy dress. If I'd wore it to meeting, people would have thought I was putting on airs."
She seems tired and lost in thought. Slowly I gather them up and put them back into the box. She stands on a stool to put the box back on the shelf.
Everyone is gone now, but I remember well the hours we spent studying family history with the button box.
--Judith Brightman
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN by Siegfried Sassoon. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin book bag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/Sept13Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: REBELLIOUS HEART (Fiction) by Jody Hedlund
In 1763 Massachusetts, Susanna Smith has grown up with everything she's ever wanted, except one thing: an education. Ben Ross grew up a farmer's son and has nothing to his name but his Harvard education. When Susanna and Ben act to save a woman in need...they'll risk everything for justice--and love--in a nation on the brink of revolution.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on REBELLIOUS HEART to find out more about the book and the author, Jody Hedlund. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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