Favorite Possessions

            I received a different but interesting and appropriate gift for Mother’s Day. One of my daughters gifted me with a subscription to “StoryWorth.” The idea behind the subscription is for me to write the stories of my life. Each week my daughter will select a question, and the company will email it to me. I am supposed to write the answer to the question and send it back. The company will send the answer to my daughter as well as combining the answers into a book at the end of the year. Here is another picture into who I am.

            The question for week 11 is: What are your favorite possessions? Why? This is another interesting question and one that I would not have included in my personal history! The possessions that I consider to be the most important in my life would include my temple recommend, my scriptures, my family ring (diamond from my engagement ring plus a birthstone for each of my children), pictures, family history, and heirlooms from my parents and grandparents. I protect these items carefully, but I do not consider them my favorites.

            My favorite objects include things that can be easily replaced and items that I use in my daily life, such as my sewing machine. I now own several sewing machines and have my eyes on another one. I could sew for several hours every day and never tire of it. I enjoy sewing because it allows me to be creative while it relaxes me. I have sewn many items of clothing in past years, including clothing and costumes for my children and grandchildren as well as prom dresses and wedding gowns for my daughters. I am now more interested in quilting projects and am in the process of making a quilt for each of my grandchildren. I have learned through personal experience that quilting has the same effect on me as putting puzzles together or working with Legos. The simple act of putting pieces together to make something beautiful distracts me from my daily life as well as relaxes me.

            Other favorite items include my gardening tools, particularly my shovels, rakes, pitch fork, and wheelbarrow. I love working in my yard and garden because it brings me closer to nature and to God. I have been blessed with numerous personal revelations as I worked in my backyard. I am grateful to have these tools available to me as I create more beauty. The shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrow have many uses in my gardening projects, but the pitch fork is irreplaceable as I work my compost piles. I did not own a pitch fork for many years until I started composting. Then I remembered my life on the farm and how we used pitch forks daily to move the hay into the mangers for the cattle and sheep, and I immediately made plans to buy one!

            Another favorite item is my iPhone because it keeps me in touch with my children and grandchildren. I had no use for a cell phone when they first came out. I remember being amazed when I saw people walking down the street with a telephone in their hands. It was such a new and exciting thing to see that I marveled at it for a long time. Then my husband and I started traveling, and I needed to have a cell phone. That was when I learned that I had instant contact with my children. I have had an iPhone for about seven years and enjoy staying up with daily events and activities of friends and family. I would have a difficult time going back to not having this link – but I suppose that I could make that adjustment also.

            I am sure that I have numerous other favorite things, but I think that you can understand why these things among my favorites. My relationships with God and my family are extremely important to me, and I can use these objects to improve those relationships as well as to develop my own gifts and talents.