antiques and memories

we went to a few antique shops friday afternoon. i enjoy looking around, touching old stuff and imagining where it came from, who owned it previously and how old some of the stuff is.

inevitably i knew some things would prove nostalgic and remind me of something from my past.

we stopped in one shop in town and we hung out. i stopped, pausing to look at this chair. sticking up from a point of the chair was an old autographed-stamped baseball glove. the webbing was done in the fashion where it had four squares. i couldn't tell whose autograph was on it, but i put it on, it barely fit my left hand. but it took me back. i had a similar glove when i was a kid. it had a similar autograph, although the player's name eludes me. i used it quite a bit.

then i moved down another aisle and found an old conch shell. it was big, probably about a foot long with points spread across it. i, of course, put it to my ear and i heard the sounds of the ocean coming fromwithin it. as i held it in my hand, i recalled my grandparents had one. it was similar, but probably a bit more compact and without the points. they used it as a door stop. i used to hold my grandparents' conch shell to my ear as a kid and listen to the ocean, even though i'd probably only been out to the gulf once at the time.

at another shop we ran across some furniture. i felt the wood and the latches to pull the drawers open. i lifted them and let them drop back, hitting the metal attched to the wood. the sounds, latches and drawers reminded me of some old furniture my other grandparents once had.

it was crazy. it was like going back in time.