Tis the season to accessorize, right? Already houses up and down every street are unknotting their white or colored strands of lights and wrapping their bushes and trees and sheds and houses with illumination, so much so that even the most mundane commute is a venture into winter wonderland.
Heirlooms
As a child, nothing held mystery like my mother’s dresser drawers. They housed finery only a grown woman possessed. In the top drawer, the one she opened when dressing to go somewhere very fancy my one ‘real’ piece of jewelry, a golden bangle, lay safely in its square white box. My paternal grandmother passed the heirloom on to me, as the first Miss Donovan, while I was still a young child and while she was still very much alive, although long a widow.
Sibling Lore
As I sit squashed into economy seating on my second American Airlines plane of the day, having started this journey in the dark and snowy pre-dawn, first driving for four hours, flying for another six, to find a place at the Thanksgiving table among my siblings, children, mother, all 3000 miles away, it is not hard to ponder the pull of blood ties and how we, as a nation, and as a world, (as evidenced by the millions of travelers at this moment) strive to find solace in the company of family.
