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What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?

Sounds like an easy question to answer.  What is the oldest thing I’m wearing today?

I’m looking down at my dress and reflected on when I purchased it for a special event some ten years ago.. but like life itself, it’s been through some wars, some hardships, some misadventures! 

I’m reminded of each time I take it from the cupboard and slip it over my head, allowing it to now hang loosely on my body.

I wore it to an art class some time back and accidentally allowed a permanent marker pen to lay in the pocket of my apron without the lid on the pen. Yes, you guessed it, the ink found its way onto the front of my dress..ruined beyond repair but still good for something. Sounds like parts of the story of my life.

But that’s not the oldest thing I wear. I feel honoured that many years ago when I was visiting my mother, who lived alone in her house, she beckoned to me.

“I’ve something to give you, and I want you to wear it every day. We will always be together with the ring even when apart!”

I was quite shocked to find she was giving me her engagement ring. I lived some 3 hours drive away, unlike my sisters, who could see her every day. 

My mother got married in late 1946, so it was probably earlier that year when she received it. There is such a romantic story attached to where and how my parents met, and I will be travelling through that area next week.

Her parents worked as share farmers helping the farmer with day to day activities, milking cows, ploughing paddocks, mending fences, and…chores that kept them going from before dawn to sometimes after the sun had set.

The railway line that linked Brisbane to Sydney  ( Australia) ran close to the farming property. One day, a group of railway workers were camped near the line, and they decided to toss a coin to see who would go and fetch some fresh food supplies for their breakfast from the farm.

The man who won the toss and went to collect fresh eggs and milk later became my father. Love at first sight, or as she said, he married a woman who wasn’t afraid of hard work!

My mother experienced lots of hardship in her life, and I imagine she felt I deserved the ring because our lives had so many parallels.

Sadly, age and disability forced her from her home and into care. In later years she couldn’t remember who people were,  like my sister who she saw every week but she never forgot my name or who I was…

So don’t get me started, but the oldest thing I wear… are the good memories of my mother’s family…etched deeply in my heart and mind. But the memories of my mum and her ring – precious memories beyond measure – mine forever.