Artifact

Well this is interesting. So today in my Education class...cuz yeah, I am taking classes to be a teacher apparently, they want us to bring to class an artifact that represents my personal attachment to my family and/or culture. It needs to be something personal with meaning. That is interesting. Sure I could bring some random item or even go to the flea market and buy some old thing and make up a great story about it. However, that isn't how I do it. Oh no. Chris has to over-analyze everything. I really want to bring something that means something and represents my family or heritage. Luckily, my cousin Betsy shared my stress. We have a big family. We have a fairly close family. We have a widespread reach of people with ties that go through generations. What we do not have, however, are artifacts. We do not have artifacts that go back more than our grandparents. Actually, someone would really be hard-pressed to find too many items that go back to even our grandparents. What is fascinating about the entire afternoon debate is that my grandmother is actually in town visiting and in on the discussion here.








Here we are, a family that spends way too much every Christmas for most of our lives. We have had some of the most ridiculous displays of credit card fever every year since we were all children. It is even worse now that my cousins have grown up and have kids of their own. But I simply asked, "Have we ever received anything for Christmas that we kept longer than even a decade"? I don't believe so. Ain't that America! We have stuff. I am a pack rat full of meaningless memories. I moved a lot as a kid so maybe I am holding on to everything and allow everything to mean something to me. No matter, we are very disposing of our stuff. I then asked my grandmother if she were to die, heaven forbid, what things did she have that my mother or Betsy's mother would keep as a keepsake from her dad or grandparents, etc. The fact is that there is not really much. Sure she has a brooch or something from one of her aunts but it wasn't something that I believe I would keep around as a reminder of my family. It was not personal for me. Some families have lots of heirlooms. I wonder if only the rich people have lots of heirlooms. This is something. This is very American. Everything is disposable. We have little real history on a personal level. Sure my family has recipes and traditions and sentiments. But I could not think of an artifact. I will think more on this tomorrow.