MEMENTOS: Old sweet possessions

I think she made this one - the letters WAC
 are embroidered with red-white-blue tatting
from the days wen she was in the Army
in World War II.

My mother was born in 1910, lived a life eroded into rigid vigorous strength of character as she worked fiercely to make a secure life for herself.  These are her cloth handkerchiefs; I found them wadded up and unpressed when she closed her home and moved to an assisted living facility. I kept very little, already feeling the shadow, but I had to have these.

I have hung them on a "clothesline", remembering the days when washday meant carrying heavy baskets to the line, worrying if they would freeze or be caught by a sudden rain.

I like to look at the hankies, and wonder what Mom wore with each, or what the day was like she had with the purple violet hanky.  Sometimes they were decorative; a flutter of color bursting from a shirt or dress pocket, secured with a brooch.

They are rather garish and cheaply printed, but enjoyably bright and gay as zinnias marigolds, the flowers she loved.