Magical Things

  Remember when you were a kid and there were things that magically appeared around the house? You know, rubber bands, clothes hangers, bobbie pins, etc? Where are those magic things today? I don't remember the last time I saw a rubber band, they used to just show up, maybe wrapped around the daily newspaper, around a bundle of mail, and those big fat ones used in the produce section of the local grocery store ( you know, before they became "supermarkets") there were so many we used to make rubber band guns and shot the rubber bands at our little broth...I mean at random inanimate objects. The same with clothes hangers, you actually have to remember to BUY them now, at one time, you just opened the closet and all the newborn hangers were there waiting. My Mother had a little box that held bobbie pins and we used them for all kinds of things, my sister Paula and I would attach some together and hang them from our ears and pretend they were earrings, I have a lifelong habit of using them as bookmarks, we also used them to dig the nut meat from hickory nuts or black walnuts, now even though I buy them and rarely use them in my hair, and I keep them in a little basket, I can't seem to find one when I need one. Safety pins, clothes pins, never there when you need one. My Granny had a round metal box that she kept beautiful buttons in, years ago I decided that I was going to make a "button box" but after a couple of years I was so disappointed because all I had was a dozen shirt buttons, where did all of her wonderful buttons come from? Did she sneak up on people at Woolworth and snip the buttons for her collection? You can't do that today, Woolworth's has given way to huge chain stores and most people who shop there wear pull over type tops and pull up type pants or skirts, no buttons to collect. I guess I could go to the Goodwill shops and snip buttons...hmmm. (Don't worry, I wouldn't really do that!) Thumb tacks, do they even make them anymore? They make "push pins" for bulletin boards, but there are times when you need an old fashioned thumb tack. Marbles, jacks, where did all those things come from? Maybe I need to look at the ground more often, maybe, just maybe I'll find something that brings back a memory, and a bit of magic...