Gone With The Wind Meaningful Memorabilia

My old, dear school friend emailed me.

She said "Hi, Carol. How are you"?

It had been 30+ years and it seemed like it. And it had been 30+ years but it felt like yesterday since she had called me and said "what are we going to do tonight"? A true dear friend who knew me through and through. Knew me in those formative years when we were young and silly and foolish and full of dreams.

We certainly never intended to part and not stay in contact. I don't think either of us can say why we allowed it to happen.

After we exchanged a few emails and phone calls, it is as if we had never lost touch. We seemed to catch up on our lives very quickly. Both of us summed them up in a few quick fact statements, blah, blah, blah. She is such a dear friend that when I mentioned the death of a cousin in 2000, she immediately knew her name. No one else in the whole wide world would have known who I was talking about. I read her long emails and looked between the lines and said to myself, "ah, hah, that sounds like Karen". She heard my voice on the phone and said "you sound just like yourself". I sent her pictures and like a true friend she said that I looked good, my son looked good and that my new granddaughter was beautiful(true).

We talked about my brothers and her sisters, and her parents that she is so fortunate to still have and live near.

We have talked about getting together soon. We have talked about other old school friends from our gang and friends who have died.

And then she told me that she has breast cancer.

At first, I was just sickened and so saddened. I knew nothing about the disease but her attitude helped me to listen to her. She told me that the disease can be beaten and that she is going to be one of those that do just that. The present phase of the treatment is pretty horrible but less horrible than at its start. Her side effects are sometimes debilitating but her spirits are usually good and positive. I failed her miserably by not knowing what to say but she covered for me and said she understood. I'm still trying to express something meaningful and/or helpful.

In one of our conversations I had mentioned that during one of the bad times in my life, my mother's silver flatware had been stolen from me. Mother had prized her set of sterling silver flatware since it had been a wedding gift. I have been hurt and furious that it was taken. My friend had talked about having a set of her grandmother's silverware. And that it where this story is going..........

I received an email from my friend one day saying that she was going to send me something in the mail the next day and to start looking for it. Well, the next day turned out to be April 15 and she couldn't get near the Post Office. So it went out the next day and I got it the next Monday. I spent those days wondering what she could be sending. I decided that it must be a piece of silver something or other because we had talked about silver flatware, right? She had said that it wasn't much, just a gift that she and her mother had wanted to send to me.

I picked up my "present" during my lunch hour. I'm thinking, "mmmmmm, big box. I will open it tonight. No, I'll take it back to the office and open it". But, I couldn't wait and used my keys to rip it open in the car. The items were wrapped in bubble wrap. The first I opened was a doll in a blue dress with pink ribbons. I'm thinking, "what has she sent me? Why is she sending me a doll"? The doll figure looked familiar and I grabbed the next item and unwrapped it. It was a smaller doll with a blue riding habit on. I teared up a bit and grabbed the next item. And there she was.....SCARLETT in her green curtain dress. They were all there. Scarlett, Rhett, Bonnie, Melanie, Mr. O'Hara, Mammy and Prissy. A set of Gone With The Wind World dolls!!! I sat there in the car for some time. Bubble wrap clinging to my tears.

I emailed her that evening and and tried to say some kind of blabbering thank you. She told me they were her mother's. That her parents had had a house fire some years ago and when they were finally allowed to go into the house, her father had retrieved what he could of her mother's dolls. These dolls were some that had survived. That neither she nor her sisters want them and that her mother had wanted to send them to me. They are a little smoke damaged on the light fabrics but that just endears them to me all the more. They have a history.

Just like my friend and I have a history. We have been through some fires but we have survived. How do you say what you feel about a gesture like that? I am determined to see Karen and her mother soon and try to express what this kind of caring means to me.

I've set the dolls up around me at the computer and I look at them and smile. Gone With The Wind memorabilia with true meaning.

Now isn't that a story??