Monday, May 3, 2010

Autograph Books

As I piddle and poke through stuff this morning I find an autograph book of my mother’s with the dates 1936 – 1937. My own light green autograph book that she gave me when I was maybe eleven is also around here stashed safely in a box. The autographs of famous people can be quite valuable but these small, carefully bound slim volumes that contain memories of friends and family also have great value. They are filled with tender and funny sayings and words of wisdom and well wishes, but most of all, there is that signature, sometimes the only memory on the well worn little page. The most classic entry to any autograph book was always “Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you,” and that is what some lesser imaginations wrote. Other signers took more liberties.

My mother’s thin brown leather book that is held in place with matching ribbon reflects the time with this:
Bye Bye Baby. When you read this, don’t feel low. Just Sing Baby Sing.
And from her favorite cousin:
I love you once, I love you twice. I love you better than cats love mice.
Sage advice:
Love many, trust few. Always paddle your own canoe.
And this warning:
Long may you live. Long may you tarry. Court who you please, but mind who you marry.
And a forget me not:
In you chain of memory, always count me as a link.
I think it is really a good thing to hang on to some objects from childhood and remember stories of our lives and the characters in them.

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