A memory is often preserved through the act of saving a simple three dimensional object. The keepsake provides a porthole through which a special day in the past returns to the present moment to be relived with a certain vitality that transcends the original event.  When the object is viewed, grasped, held, used again, many years later--the original event comes back to be relived with a new life of its own.

 

I have a Memory Mug! Many years back, I was at a lunch counter in a local restaurant having bitter-diner-coffee with Martin, and happened to mention that I really, really liked the patriotic mug I was sipping from. By the time we left, I owned it!

 

Purple Martins return to familiar nesting grounds, and are attracted to places humans prepare just for them. Year, after year, they appear in the spring, swallowing up winter, coming to create a new beginning.

 

I sip delicious, French pressed, organic Fair Trade coffee from my old, chipped red, white, and blue mug every morning, while I watch the birds outside the dining room window. What a perfect day . . .