My Treasures

Treasures

A box without hinges, key, or lid,

Yet golden treasure inside is hid. - JRR Tolkien

My Treasures are in a black boot box, re-purposed to hold small and simple things that to me have become dear and familiar. Like a system of secret caves, they take me into that split bit of being when time and space have no meaning, and warmth envelops me in the overflow of love's arms.

1.

A tiny pink card with a Hip Hop Hop sticker for a stamp. Inside, a small heart carefully drawn in ballpoint ink, followed by a dash and an uppercase U. Love You.

A floral design with real yellow lily petals and an appropriately-bent green pipe cleaner for the stem and a leaf, mounted on pink construction paper.

A helicopter cut out from blue construction paper with crossed popsicle sticks for rotor blades flies in the sky filled with cotton ball clouds. At the bottom is the inscription: If I flew on a helicopter I would visit my Grandma's house.

The name signature is peculiar: the first three block letters are in proper sequence, but the final letter suddenly has taken precedence over the first three.   

A three-page story book made out of ruled notebook paper, stapled on the right-hand side, so the pages flip from right to left. Illustrated are three stick figures of graduated size. Their hair is spiky. They all have exaggerated smiles and their arms are held up high in the sky. On the last page is revealed the reason for the exuberance - a bright sun whose rays reach down to touch the arms of one of the stick figures. Their faces are turned toward the sun.

A flip-flop shaped stationery page with numbers meticulously inscribed thereon. They start with 5, going down as in a countdown to 1, then continue on the second line in proper numeric order from 6 thru 10. 

2.

An invitation, promising that butterflies and ladybugs will flit, as her birthday candle is lit. Two-thirds of the page is filled with an endearing photo - all chubby cheeks, a button nose, her signature "paci," a dimpled smile, and hair curlicues adorned with a white polka-dotted bow, topped with a floppy sun bonnet.

A blue hand print mounted on a homemade card. The typed inscription says:

This is my hand.

My hand will do a thousand loving things for you.

And you will remember, when I am tall, 

that once my hand was just this small.

The handwritten signature in pencil, in upper and lowercase, is carefully crafted, some of the letters bending toward the left, the others upright - all slightly wobbly but distinct. 

A Monet-like watercolor abstract of circles and emanating lines, all entangled: in primary colors, slightly muddied with brown. A seemingly insignificant dot is strategically drawn on the side. It is a bug.

A drawing in ballpoint ink. I can tell from the exaggerated long, curly lines that extend from the figure's head, along the side, way past the entire figure's delineation, that it is a self-portrait.

A minimalist rendition of grandparents: two stick figures with a head, arms jutting out of the face where the ears should be, and legs. They have large round eyes made out of incomplete circles and a happy smile. Both lack a body.

3.

A hoppy greeting card shaped like a frog, looking upon a gift-bearing bug wearing a birthday hat. Inside is a printed wish, Hope it's unFROGgettable! made prominent with yellow crayon rays all around it. Randomly filling both inside pages of the card are festive though indistinct scribbles and shapes in various colors and a penciled-in signature. Unlike previous name signatures, the final letter S no longer faces backward.

A lei made out of red, blue, yellow, and green construction paper- each piece cut and curled to emulate petals, then strung together. A paper box constructed from scratch, riddled with staples and tape. It is empty. 

A neatly-delineated scenery on a flat, grassy plain with symmetrically-placed details of two houses, each with a couple of glass pane windows and a chimney. Between them is a yellow butterfly. Flanking each on the outer side are yellow multi-petal flowers and palm trees. Hovering overhead are three red, larger butterflies. The sky color graduates from a yellowish-green on the left side to a broader blue. In beautiful tightly-spaced lettering, the inscription on the top reads, Sight Is Beautiful. It is a third prize poster winner. 

*****

Such are My Priceless Treasures.

On those days that seem to be a duplicate of the ones before in regimented routine, I know that I can simply look into my stash to find fragments like the fluttering glints of gold in the dark.

In the static air of my room, I relish the thought that I'll have many more notes and crafts that will leave their mark on me. But right now, my world and its treasures have shrunk to fit just perfectly inside a box.