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Across the Fence:  Clothespins - a little essay  |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 02 2006 : 5:59:43 PM
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I went to an estate sale yesterday, and this is what I came home with! If I had the brains to start a blog, I would probably put this on it. But, since my little brain does not seem to function well in a "techno" world, I'll just post this here for my farmgirl friends. I hope you like it. 
Karin
The Clothespins
It was a small brown bag, tucked just inside the laundry room door, that caught my eye. A humble thing, tied with a simple knot around a clothes hanger. Attached to it was a small piece of tape stating it's monetary value- fifty cents. It came home with me.
Turning out the contents, the years of this little bag's life tumbled to the table. Clothespins, none of them new, lay before me each with a story to tell about the rhythm of an everyday existence.
I doubt if the children realized the connection their mother had with these small bits of wood and wire. These were the things that held up her hopes and dreams. Could they possibly have imagined that something so utilitarian would touch this woman's heart?
Tracing the shape of each one brings to mind a vivid picture -
Brand new tawny pins, standing like little soldiers across the line, grasping onto crisp cotton sheets and linen dishtowels, a gingham apron and a new husband's shirts, tails up and arms down caught in an ethereal cartwheel.
Slightly weathered pins, side by side, bearing the smallest of burdens - soft pink layettes, smooth white diapers and the grins of little bibs dancing like scalloped trim against the edge of a brilliant blue sky.
On and on across the line they go, trusted friends always, clinging to a rapidly changing life. A family of tutus and training bras, muddy shoes and tear-stained handkerchiefs. Each pin fulfilling the measure of its creation in the boundless sunshine of joy and the shadowy days of sorrow.
Like the woman who used them, they have developed a roundness and a softness that can only come with age. Tinged with gray, they mirror her hair. Splayed and slightly twisted they have become extensions of her once nimble fingers.
This woman, now gone, remembered to hang them back in their place one last time. A familiar routine at the end of a day, at the end of a life.
Now they are with me, this fifty cent bag of memories. The mundane tools of a woman who nourished and nurtured a family, set aside for more precious treasure, are waiting for the dawn of a new day. One filled with fresh air and sunshine, billows of clouds and clothes.
I think I will do some laundry. |
Edited by - Mumof3 on Jun 03 2006 04:12:03 AM |
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Nancy Gartenman
True Blue Farmgirl
9093 Posts
Nancy
West Seneca
New York
USA
9093 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 04:28:58 AM
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Karin
Very nice, who in their right mind could hate a clothespin, if I were lucky enough to have all my Grandmas pins I would be very happy, but didn't think of those things back then. So it is nice to have some with soul.
NANCY JO |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 06:31:10 AM
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Karin, isn't it amazing how something like that can "touch us" so much. I was telling kathy from Enchanted woods, about my old books I've collected at flea markets, garage sales & auctions. Some of them are so old but the really special thing about them is they have writings on the inside from a mother to a daughter & so fourth. One of my favorites is a Little Women edition. It's copyright is 1880 but it was given to a young girl from her mother on Christmas of 1903. it say's, Merry Christmas from Mamma, 1903. When I picked up this book & read that, the life of this book just ran through my fingers. This was a mother giving her child a very special Christmas present on a very special day in their lives. I've got an old school book of someones from 1815 it says, Addie L. Danberger
St. Johns L. School
Dec. 28th 1815
it's amazing!
I've been collecting old books for a while but the ones w/ the inscriptions are my very favorites. A music book from New York in 1860 is really pretty neat but the ones from family to family are so special. I can just picture it all & "feel" it, you know. So hang onto your clothespins. They are telling of a life before yours. it is so incredible.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 11:09:28 AM
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Nancy and Michelle-
Thanks for your encouragement!! I agree, it is difficult to part with the things that we connect with. So, that little brown bag of clothespins is hanging in my laundry room!
It is so nice to be able to come to this place where we all have so much in common, and feel comfortable enough to share ourselves.
Karin |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 2:35:51 PM
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YES IT IS.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Aunt George
True Blue Farmgirl
1476 Posts
Georgann
Midlothian
VA
1476 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 3:10:47 PM
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Karin,
Your clothespin essay is marvelous. I ended up with a lump in my throat by the end. Wonderful writing and I could tell it came straight from your heart! Thank you for posting it. You might want to check the Chicken Soup website and see if they are taking any submissions that this could fit into. Here is their website:
www.chickensoup.com I checked their working anthologies and your story would fit perfectly in a couple of them. You submit online and it is really easy and they pay for your story is pretty good too! Give it a try...I think it is great Chicken Soup Material!!
Keep writing, and again, thanks for posting. Also you are very right about having a little corner of the WWW to share such common interests, joys, sorrows and friendship!
Georgann |
Edited by - Aunt George on Jun 03 2006 3:18:00 PM |
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dargaonfly1054
True Blue Farmgirl
257 Posts
Georgette
Nicholville
NY
USA
257 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2006 : 4:07:34 PM
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Beautiful!!
Georgette
"We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk..." Thoreau |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2006 : 05:29:19 AM
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Georgann- I get to the Chicken Soup website, and then I "chicken out"!! What a wimp. Anyway, I have been thinking (and praying) a lot about this idea this weekend, and maybe I will try. Can't hurt. And, the worst they can say is "No." So, I thank you and the other farmgirls for the encouragement. And....maybe I will try. (________) Enter chicken here!!
Karin |
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blueroses
True Blue Farmgirl
1323 Posts
Debbie
in the Pandhandle of
Idaho
USA
1323 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2006 : 10:44:35 AM
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Do it. Just do it. What the heck, right? It was a beautifully written essay and I know it's hard to put yourself "out there", but you need to share this with others. Karin, it really was a beautiful essay.
Debbie
"You cannot find peace...by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolfe |
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owwlady
True Blue Farmgirl
899 Posts
Jan
Tomahawk
WI
USA
899 Posts |
Posted - Jun 06 2006 : 08:16:08 AM
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| Karin, that was beautiful. What a gift for writing you have. Keep it up. Thank you, reading that gave me a warm, cozy feeling. |
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JudyBlueEyes
True Blue Farmgirl
657 Posts
Judith
Spokane
Washington
USA
657 Posts |
Posted - Jun 06 2006 : 10:28:36 AM
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Karin, thank you, that is a very evocative story. At first I thought you found that writing somewhere, but then I realized it was yours. Beautiful, and it brought a tear to my eyes. I also received another woman's clothespins - when I bought my house last year, the daughter-in-law had some things left after the "estate sale" and one was the clothes basket (cloth basket between the metal frame, with a clothes pin pocket on one side) and since I had said I didn't want them to take the clothesline down, she asked if I wanted it (with clothes pins) and of course I said yes! So I have a bit of her history in that basket and pins too. I do so hope you get into Chicken Soup - it would be great! Hugs of encouragement, Judy
P.S.~If you don't mind, I'm going to print it out and hang it in my laundry.
The Rooster crows, but the Hen lays the egg. ~ Texas Proverb |
Edited by - JudyBlueEyes on Jun 06 2006 10:29:34 AM |
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Across the Fence: Clothespins - a little essay |
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Clothespins - a little essay
