In buying vintage items for my stall & upcoming Etsy shop, I have had an absolute ball. To me, there is nothing better than the anticipation before a buying trip, whether it be to a charity shop, a boot sale or - my new favourite - the auction house.
It's the feeling of excitement, of not knowing what gems you might find. Sometimes, there's disappointment; a feeling of 'better luck next time'. But sometimes, there's that rush of adrenaline that I guess some people get with shoes, designer clothes or jewels. I just happen to get it scrabbling around in a box or on shelf of forgotten items that have seen better days and that leave my hands with a fine coating of dirt!
But the absolute best thing to me, better than finding a treasure, is finding a treasure that has a hidden message.
This has happened more than expected and I feel genuinely lucky to have stumbled across the messages you can see above (as well as others that I haven't yet posted). I chose these ones to post, as these were the ones that I genuinely did not know existed until I bought the items.
The first items are two prayer books I got from a boot sale. There's something lovely about the fact that in Christmas 1943, Dottie both gave and received a prayer book. How often do we take the time nowadays to write inscriptions inside books given as gifts? Not enough; maybe that's something I should start to do.
But my favourite message is the one you can see in the copy of Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' that I bought for my wedding. We had named all of the tables after our favourite books and wanted a copy of each one. I headed to ebay and bought this copy from the 40s, not knowing that inside lay the most beautiful poem.
What happened to Stanley & Bridget? I can only imagine that they never ended up together or surely, surely this book would have somehow stayed with them? The series of details that Stanley provides allows us to imagine him, sat there, waiting for her. I'd like to think that she received the book, she received him into her life, they married and she left this book somewhere, forever regretting having lost it but living happily ever after with her 'darling'.
It feels as though a small, quiet voice has reached out over the years and hopefully, someone, somewhere, will know that they have been heard.
This is so lovely; I do always write in my children's books when giving them at Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAhh, Caz - that's exactly what I need to start doing (not writing in your children's books, of course!). Who knows who'll read them in the years to come? Lovely x
ReplyDelete