Gifts and Memorials

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be" is the first part of Robert Browning's poem Rabbi Ben Ezra. It is about an actual Rabbi, Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167). This part is particularly well known because it is one of the final songs by John Lennon. I particularly like the version of the song by Mary Chapin Carpenter back in the mid 90's.

There is a lesser known verse:
For thence,—a paradox
Which comforts while it mocks,—
Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:
What I aspired to be,
And was not, comforts me:
brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.

That's a bit more complex and will definitely make one stop and think for a while.

It was my Valentine's Day gift from my sweetheart, Judy.

These two little guys are going out on the patio of the new house whenever we have time and the weather cooperates and Judy tells me where they go.

The frog is holding a horn and that's in honor of Judy's Saxophone playing.

The crab was my particular gift.

It is because my horoscope sign is cancer which in turn is the crab. Maybe also it is because I am crabby.

But Judy says I am more like the crab because he sometimes withdraws into his shell. I suppose it is usually when he feels threatened or maybe he just wants to be alone in there.

I had not really known this about myself until she mentioned it but it is pretty obvious to me when I think about it. Does make you wonder sometimes if there is anything to this horoscope stuff. Regardless I like my little crab a lot.

It was given in honor of the 7th anniversary of our first e-mail exchange. That might seem strange that we mark such an event but given my caregiver status at the time it is rather remarkable we were able to meet at all.

This is a gift to both of us from my daughter. It was for our new house.

We really like this and Judy chose to hang in our guest bedroom in a rather prominent place.

I think "family" is such an important part of both of our lives that such a house warming gift is just particularly appropriate for us.

I was thinking about these gifts this morning as I walked through the house and decided they were something I would blog about.

One could not say they are unique because they are mass manufactured certainly or otherwise we wouldn't have them. But they are unique in a way and they are given in honor of some particular event or occasion.

So when I look at them I not only think of the giver and the innate symbolism of the gift but the reason for the gift.

So they are cherished memorials in a way. Memorializing is important but that's a different post.