Getting to know you

After a month away, my husband has returned from his family home in New Jersey with a large truck filled with family effects, including this charming mermaid, sculpted and painted by his mother. 

For all the 30 years I've known this man -- and probably for many more years before that -- this mermaid sat beside the sink in the powder room next to the living room in his parents' house.  She always looked a little off there, but she seems to fit right in here; some part of me wishes his mother were here to see how happy she is.

It reminds me a bit of the new cheerios commercial that actually brought me to tears yesterday, the one where the little boy points out that since Nana used to serve Cheerios to his mom, that means when he eats Cheerios now it's almost like having breakfast with Nana...

As I sit now, in a living room filled with boxes containing artifacts of my husband's youth, watching him sort through and listening to the stories he shares, I am intensely aware of the power these items have to transport us back.  While some part of me feels invaded by all this stuff, another part of me is enjoying the revelations that emerge in the reminiscences.  Like the little mermaid, I've adopted a relaxed and listening stance, and I'm feeling my heart opening to the boy I never knew.  It's all good...