I made a “memory jar” for my grandparents for Christmas. I got the idea either online or in a book somewhere, now the source escapes me. I collected short memories from family members and friends, arranged them in InDesign, printed, rolled, and popped them into a Mason jar I got from specialtybottle.com.
Look after the jump for the full details!
I took a creative nonfiction writing class in college that I really enjoyed, and it was nice to get back into a bit of transcription for this little project. Well, big project. It was quite an undertaking! I sent out an email to my family a couple months back, asking for memories. I only got a few of them at first. My guess is that they all went, Oh, I have a month or so to get in my memories, I’ll think about it and write back. But then forgot about it! A few nagging emails later, I wound up with over 100 memories from thirteen family members and friends. I whittled that down to 96 (some of the memories weren’t specifically based on my grandparents). Some of my favorites are below.
I remember vividly the day Mrs. Cowdery called and Mother answered the phone. Mrs. Cowdery was letting Mother know that Tommy was relieving himself on the day-lilies again. Tee hee hee! – Claudia Maurer
I remember when Mother would take me ice skating to the fairgrounds before Rebecca was born. The ice rink seemed SO BIG. Mother would be out there spinning around and I would be shuffling around with my little four-bladed skates so I wouldn’t fall over. – Thomas Maurer
Tuna fish and oranges. We used to have tuna fish sandwiches for lunch, with oranges. The smell of an orange still brings back that memory. – Amanda Mrowka
Ann, I remember all the summers we would go and spend time on Stony. No electricity, and Aunt Hattie trying to get us to eat cereal with evaporated milk. UGH! – Mary Ann Gandolfo
Scavenging around the farmhouse plot with one of my homemade excavating tools, looking for “volcanic rocks”. Gram was just humoring me, since everything I found was just old asphalt from Route 3 above. We found a giant puffball and she cooked it. – Samuel Mrowka
I remember hunting for cowslips with Gram by the old barn on the Montague land. It was swampy and wet, and I always felt like I was in a jungle. – Marla Mrowka
When Marty took Pink and me out in the boat. We came out of the cut, going towards Stony to go bass fishing, maybe in late September. Biggest waves I’ve ever been out on on the boat. Pink was having a great time. He said to Marty, “Wow, these are huge waves!” Marty replied back, very calmly, “That’s why I got a big boat.” – John Mrowka
We were playing dominos about five years ago, and Grandpa was keeping score. My score was so high that he wrote an infinity sign. – Emma Mrowka
For interested persons, all the other memories can be found here.
