Monday, April 17, 2023

Museum of Me: April 2023

The opening of this month's Museum of Me exhibit was delayed, but the Museum is now open and ready for you to check out the old, worn-out thing I can't bring myself to part with. I'm not an overly sentimental person and can usually part with things fairly easily once they've outlived their usefulness, but this item is a bit different. It's both old and worn out, but I've given it a second life, and I still can't part with it. 

My mother used to give me a flannel nightgown every year for Christmas. I always looked forward to receiving this gift and was excited to see what she had chosen each year. I don't have a photo of the last nightgown she gave me, but it was the Christmas of 2000. She had just been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and I had a feeling that this might be the last Christmas she would be with us. I was surprised to even receive a flannel nightgown that year since Mom had brain metastases and was hardly able to make a phone call or use a computer to shop online. But she gave me a lovely bright red and white flannel nightgown from L.L. Bean and I treasured it. I didn't even wear it for a couple of years because I wanted to save it, but eventually, I did start wearing it and it helped a bit when I missed her. 

Several decades passed and you can imagine that the nightgown had become worn, faded, and was starting to fall apart in that time. I folded it and put it away carefully because I just couldn't get rid of it. One day when I saw it in my armoire, I had an idea. My clothespin holder had recently fallen apart and I thought there would be plenty of fabric in the nightgown to make a new one. So that's what I did.


I used it to hold my clothespins outdoors for about a year but finally admitted that being outside wasn't conducive to preserving it, so it's now my indoor clothespin holder. It's not subjected to the elements at all, and I can still avoid getting rid of it for maybe another couple of years. 

So that is the story of the old, worn-out last nightgown from my mother that I can't part with and what it's become. I suppose that someday the top seams will start to rip through the worn fabric, my clothespins will fall on the cellar floor, and I'll have to decide what to do with it then. But that day isn't today. 

How about you? Do you have something old and worn-out that you just can’t bear to part with? I'd love to hear your story!

Thank you for visiting The Museum of Me and I hope you'll check back on the second Friday in May for a brand new exhibit.

11 comments:

  1. I love that you found a way to keep a special object by repurposing it into something useful. And I'm guessing you think of your mother every time you reach for clothespin.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely story, Bonny.

    ReplyDelete
  3. so beautiful! My mom died of breast cancer and I have Christmas ornaments that she made and I do my best to keep them in the best possible shape.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This story is just so beautiful, Bonny (as is your clothes pin bag!) I think LL Bean would love knowing how their nightgown was so special... and what it has become today!

    I especially love that your memories are part of your everyday life... thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, Bonny. That is such a lovely story. (I actually got quite tingly and teary just reading about it.) What a perfect way to preserve such a special (worn out) (much beloved) . . . "old" thing. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this exhibit and think you found a very clever way to hold out to that extra special flannel nightgown. I recognized the print immediately because I had the same one from LL Bean but in blue!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a beautiful story, it brought tears to my eyes! I have kept certain things that mean so much to me but not to anyone else. One of those things is a lacy bed jacket that my mother would wear after each of my younger siblings were born and sometimes on Mother's Day for breakfast in bed. I used to tell her she looked like a princess in it. I just can't part with it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Debbie! I've read novels and seen movies where people wore bed jackets and I've always thought of them as elegant pieces of clothing. I can easily imagine your mother looking like a princess in it and can see how it would be impossible to part with!

      Delete
  8. Hey, Bonny! Just dropping in during remodeling the house that I bought for my brother. I thought I would be through with that by now, but NOOOOOO. Anyway, I loved this story, and I am glad you have figured out how to keep this item in use. I have been unable to part with my mother's old Sunbeam mixer. It is ancient, traveled to MS with my SIL after my father died, and has now been put back in my kitchen since they moved back. It still works, and I can remember each and every birthday cake we made with it, and I have pictures of my nephew who is now dead standing on a stool when he was about 3 years old licking the bowl for his birthday cake. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to the next time I need a mixer. I generally don't get sentimental about "stuff", but this is definitely an exception.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a sweet wonderful story. I think your Mother would love how you are still using that nightgown.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment! :-)