Everything Old is New

I’m a writer. A reader. A lover of history. Of the what-if and the what-did. I love scrapbooking and writing and photography because they are artistic expressions of story. I love vintage books, clothes, furniture, jewelry, and buttons because they have a story. Many of these items were hand-crafted—pieces of art with history—a string of owners, lives, and hands that they have been passed through over the decades. Shared stories.

I am a product of the past; part of the literary arc of time filled with the subplots of thousands of individuals’ triumphs and disappointments. Stars that aligned and comets that crashed. I was handcrafted over millennia.

We are each others’ story. 

I guess my love of all-things old also stems from growing up with antiques. They were in my house and in the 1906 Victorian home my great grandfather built, where my grandpa was born, that served as my second home. So antiques make me feel homey. They remind me of holidays with family and a view of the world that wasn’t throw-away, when the items of life—cookware, housewares, furniture, clothes, jewelry—lasted.

I love "old-fashioned" hobbies, like reading real books with real pages and sewing heirlooms.

I guess age is what it all has in common. With age comes experience; the more time, the more story. The more story, the more interesting.

So I guess this is a reminder to myself. Embrace age gracefully, Tabitha. Yes, even the lines deepening into your skin. They show you have a story.

I hope this blog will help me share mine.