Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Girl with a Pink Rose on her Hat

The Girl with a Pink Rose on her Hat

The Girl with a Pink Rose on her Hat-

A postcard found years ago at some little flea market in France.

I kept it.

It has followed me for years, sitting on my desk, wedged between the glass pane of the kitchen window, taped in my armoire, used as a book marker, and now adorning my blog.

It is something about her regard, the way her hat shadows her, the feeling of calm I take in when I see it… as if she is listening.

Funny how things can take on a life of their own, and seem to bring us something that we acknowledge useful, helpful or lucky.

Chelsea has a stuffed bunny that she has had since she was one or two.

French Husband has a navy sweatshirt that is nearly thirty years old.

Sacha has a cartouche .

What is something you have?

Comments

31 responses to “The Girl with a Pink Rose on her Hat”

  1. Becky F

    I have a cowrie shell that I have had since I was 8 years old. My mom bought it for me at a local “rock and gem ” show.
    We never received random gifts, but my mom saw how much I was admiring it and bought it for me. It was a treasure! Growing up it was always displayed on my dresser, it went to college with me and now resides on a shelf in my family room.
    That shell it brings back such wonderful memories.

    Reply
  2. Bev

    In our first year of marriage, my husband bought me a t-shirt from Harvard. I wore it a lot around the house, exercising etc. After 20 years it started to get holes and looked worn (but boy it was comfortable). Two years ago on our 21st anniversary I got another Harvard t-shirt from him and the note was, “Here’s a t-shirt for another 20 years of marriage!”

    Reply
  3. Chris Wittmann

    I have an old, dented, darkened with age metal tea can with lid that has an old bell inside that rattles around. When I still lived with my folks we had a Scottish terrier who loved to push that can around our yard with his nose. While he did, he made the funniest gutteral noises. My dad adored that dog, called him “his son.” The dog died about 6 months after my dad died. I still have the can. It reminds me of a sweet little Scotty dog and my dad, both of whom I dearly loved and miss.

    Reply
  4. Marie-Noëlle

    How lovely !!! … What did you do with the old one ???

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  5. g

    this is so sweet…

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  6. g

    i have my baby blanket-the orginal one was thrown out by my boyfriend’s (at the time)mom-he said i would never trust him with it-well i did and look what happen– i cried, my mom cried- saying “that was the blanket that held you from the hospital, that you slept with and held”-she bought me a new one for my 25th birthday-i cherish it deeply-for many reasons the memory of her

    Reply
  7. Amy Kortuem

    A sweatshirt with a glow-in-the-dark map of the starry sky on it. It’s so old it barely glows anymore. But I love it.

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  8. Bev

    I still have it. I wore it to an exercise class last week and my teacher said, “Bev, you need a new t-shirt.” So of course I had to tell the story.

    Reply
  9. martina

    An unused plug of chewing tobacco. It was Grandpa’s, Grandma kept it and it was found amongst her things 25 years after Grandpa died and given to me.

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  10. martina

    that is really touching.

    Reply
  11. Jillayne

    I have a little “glue pot” from when I was three.
    We were living at my Grandparent’s house at the time and one day I wanted to glue some papers together. My Grandmother found an empty baby food jar and mixed up some flour and warm water to make a simple paste for me to use. A few hours later, when we were leaving to go to our family cabin at the lake I wouldn’t leave my glue behind so she found a little glass lid with a pointy top that sat perfectly on the baby food jar and off we went. I loved that little pot and would often beg her to make me glue for it. Today, it sits on my dresser, filled with dried petals from the rose bushes that grew all around that cabin. They have faded somewhat but every time I lift the lid I am taken back to that time, that place…. that’s what I have….

    Reply
  12. Kathie B

    Goodness, so much of what we have is old! A huge chest freezer we bought used when we moved into our starter house is nearly as old as I am, and still works like a charm (with just a few repairs over the decades). The wash machine and refrigerator are nearly 35 years old, as are some cotton sheets that are so-o-o-o soft to the skin’s touch. We consider clothes under 5 years old to be practically new!

    Reply
  13. denisesolsrud@hotmail.com

    i have fw items that i have had since i was young. one is a small unusual rock that i picked up when had we spent the weekend in Bayfield,wi.and crossed over to Madeline Island to stay at a home on the island. then they did that. we returned home and dad passed away. the other item is a gold cross on a chain that my brother had given me. he is also gone.just little things,but very meaningful to me. Bestest,Denise

    Reply
  14. Patti

    I’ve had a yellow rubber duckie in my refridgerator since I was in college in the late 60’s. I can’t remember where he came from or why I keep him in the fridge. I’ve moved many times and he is always there, on the top left shelf sitting on a jar of something, just waiting for the light to come so he can say hello.

    Reply
  15. g

    a treasure worth more than the price of gold!

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  16. g

    that sounds really cool!

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  17. g

    another true treasure more valuable than any precious medal!

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  18. g

    i meant metal-or medal either works!

    Reply
  19. Delphine

    My Grandfather bought me a teddy bear when I was about 3 or 4. A year or so later he bought me another bear, much bigger, for my birthday. They sit together in bedroom these days, but many years ago we all use to sleep in the same bed. I remember cuddling up to them on cold nights. One of them looks distinctly like Grandfather these days.

    Reply
  20. Linda P.

    I have the ceiling light fixture from the middle bedroom at my grandmother’s house, the one I would sleep in when I visited her. When I was back home, I would keep my eyes closed as long as I could when I woke, hoping that when I finally opened them, I would see that fixture above me.

    Reply
  21. Madeleine

    I have more junk than I care to admit. Everything from my mid-twenty year old children’s cloth diapers to the tissues from my mother’s bathrobe pocket. Many things, but none that I don’t care about. One reminds me of your postcard. In an antique mall, on one of those rotating metal postcard / photo holder display stands, I found a picture, printed on thick cardboard paper with the name of the photographer’s studio embossed at the bottom, of a darling little girl about eighteen months old, in a long white christening gown type dress. I picked it up and discovered her yellow obituary taped to the back. She lived in the very early 1900’s and died at 16. I couldn’t bear to leave her there in that antique mall, so she sits on a bookcase in my office where we can keep each other company. One of these days, I’m going to try to track down her descendants, so they can be reunited.

    Reply
  22. Rhonda

    I have my grandmother’s mixing bowl from the 30’s. It’s chipped but I remember her mixing in it in her kitchen. Somehow it ended up with me and I am happy that it did.
    I love your postcard, Corey. She does have that look on her beautiful face of listening, knowing, perhaps she has lived before, perhaps she is still here.

    Reply
  23. Jann

    I have a beautiful gray wool coat that my father
    bought for me when I was 30 years old, just a few
    months before my husband and I decided to move to
    Florida, from the midwest. My father never bought
    me a lot of nice things when I was growing up because
    there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, so that
    coat was really special, and I just could not give it
    up, so it still hangs in my closet, and I would never
    fit into it again, but when I look at it, it makes
    me happy, and it still looks stylish after many years.
    jann

    Reply
  24. Lorelei

    I have a necklace made of green, cobalt, yellow, and clear glass beads that belonged to a great aunt. A few years ago I was contacted by an antique dealer about some family pictures and one of them is of my great aunt wearing the necklace as a little girl. It is one of my many family treasures that I have possession of now.

    Reply
  25. jody

    yesterday i could not pinpoint any one thing..as i treasure every gift or momento given to me by family and friends. but this morning i remembered a little holy card of the infant Jesus given to me in first grade. how i treasured it as a child, and held and looked at it many many times.
    this year while my sister and i were emptying our family home of 55 years , we found a suitcase with old photos. inside we found one half of the very worn and 54 year old holy card. as we combed through the case i asked my sister to look for the other half. she found it! and i brought it back home with me. it is so fragile, so warn, so creased, but as beautiful in color and subject as when first given to me. the infant son of God portrayed in this sweet card i still cherish, touch and look at often.

    Reply
  26. Marilyn

    Something I haven’t ever thought of. Now I am thinking. I have some pink beads my father gave to me when I was a young girl. They chain is broken, but the beads still represent to me the image of a father. Not the father he was, as he was not present; but what I imagined him to be. I often think of taking the beads and making something new that could represent who I have become. Yes, thanks for allowing me to think on this. I will re-image the beads and make them for me.

    Reply
  27. peggy braswell

    My dad’s rosary + it is a treasure.xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

    Reply
  28. Brenda L. from TN.

    I have a glass table that my father made….it’s the ONLY thing I own I can’t replace….(I could but it wouldn’t be the same.)
    My dad worked for a glass company and took an old gasoline cyliner for the base column. It rested on a piece of round black glass. He glued two lady figurines inside the cylinder…one yellow long dress and one in a pink long dress. The round top was glass but the middle (over the cylinder) was mirrored and had a line of mirror radiated out and mirror flowers were spaced out around it. It is just beautiful! He also made a coffee table the same way but the gasoline had turned the glass light blue so he cut it in half and used a cobalt blue glass for the base. His boss’s wife had a “fit” over it and my dad GAVE it to her. My mom said she told him if he gave her the big table she was leaving. Well, about then is when he went into WWII and came home a changed man. My parents divorced when I was 5 yrs old but Mother kept the table and now I have it. My dad got me every week-end and took me to hundreds of movies…I had a great time! Thanks for asking about my “special possession”…

    Reply
  29. jody

    Corey, reading these comments show how much you know how to open the cords of silver and the hearts holding gold within us…these are such sweet touching stories from the followers of your blog. with love to you! xo jody

    Reply
  30. Jeannie

    I think the way the girl who wore a pink rose in her hat looks at you in the postcard draws one in. It is as though she really cares and wants to hear what you have to say. My touch stone? A teddy bear given to me by my favorite Great Aunt. Since it is nearer to 60 than 50, it is a little worn, like me. It saw me through the tough times, the teen years, and my first apartment. It has always been there to cry into, to hug, to listen. I am so glad it cannot talk!

    Reply
  31. Lia

    ohh Corey,
    Adoring smiles.
    I love the imagery and story about doudou…Bunbun
    xxx
    too cute

    Reply

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