Hope Chest

I inherited my grandmother's hope chest made of cedar years ago. I had it as our coffee table for a long long time...now it's at the end of a bed in the guest bedroom. It's filled with many things that belonged to my grandmother, her old tatting, her doilies, her tablecloths, all starched and neatly rolled up into perfect scrolls. I think I inherited her love for linens and needlework, but NOT her neatness or her need for perfection.

I always have felt that I could rummage thru that chest and find something new every time. Or if I needed something for a table, I could find it right there waiting for me. It was as if "Mom" had saved the things just for me(I was her only granddaughter). I would open it and feel like I'd been taken back to her time and feel the love she had added to all her wonderful handiworks.
One day, I was just looking through it, only a few years ago, and I discovered a cardboard box. It was a simple, plain old box, and I'd never opened it before. When I finally did, I discovered that there were letters inside, written by my grandfather, who I simply adored. "PoP" was my hero as a child...his love lives on and I feel his presence so often in my life...guiding me or speaking to me in the gentlest way. He was one of those men that everyone called their friend...I can still hear him telling me that he had "no enemies in this world". Everyone loved "Pop Kraus", but noone more than me.
I'm going off on a tangent, but the letters inside this box, were letters he'd written to my grandmother BEFORE they got married!!! I was so so excited. I remember actually trembling to have found such a treasure. I opened each one and read them with delight...they are so so sweet, but simple and kind. He even asked permission from her parents to write to her...and would end them always with "Your true friend, John".

And soooooo, I made my first ATC's to memorialize(word?) these letters...just five of them. I loved making them. I think they'd both get a kick out of them. The photos are of them and the words all from my grandfather's heart. There aren't any dramatic expressions of love, but just what he had to eat that night, or what was happening in the barracks, and mostly about when he'd be coming home to see her again. They are like gold to me and something that I'll pass onto my granddaughter someday...if I'm blessed with one.

I call these ATC's "Dear Louise"...Louise being my grandmom's name. These photos are not the best, but will have to do. I tried to incorporate things like her old tatting that maybe she did while he was away, and a tear that holds a tiny glistening crystal as I'm sure she shed some worrying over him, and her necklace I replaced with a real silver chain and tiny pendant, the money background is a copy of a real Japanese dollar bill I found in an old scrapbook of my mom's from Iwo Jima...of course my dad fought in that war, but I still felt it "fit". The tiny photos are of Louise, John, and my dad as a baby. I played and played with these photos, but I'm not very good at this blogging thing...just couldn't get them in the right order I wanted them. I don't know Html, so this is the best I could do arranging them. I have to admit I sure enjoyed creating these cards, but not putting them up on here! LOL
Betzie