I think I never grew up. One of my favorite possessions is my doll collection. In the morning when I say my prayers, read, and meditate I sit opposite the cabinet filled with (some) of my dolls. I think of them as the congregation of the Church Militant. Lots of nationalities are represented and two nuns, one a teaching nun and the other a missionary.
I'm not so attached, however, that I can't give one away. I recently shared one with a little first communicant I was talking to after Mass. I also gave away a lovely Irish doll that had a music box inside. You see I smile over my dolls, but I love to have them bring smiles to other little girls.
Perhaps that's because the first doll I ever received was when I accompanied my mother on a visit to an older gentleman. I was probably five or six. We were in his library and on the shelf was a beautiful doll wearing black velvet pants, sandals and a taffeta blouse. I can't remember whether I said anything. Probably not since I was a very shy little girl. (What happened, you ask?) At any rate, he reached up, took the doll off the shelf, bent down, and gave her to me. What a thrill! At that time she said "Mama" if you rotated her back and forth. She no longer says that but can still open and shut her eyes. She is not likely to go off with another little girl since that memory is so precious to me.
But it isn't just my dolls that make me smile. My mother gave me a beautiful and very colorful picture of two leopards that she bought at a school art auction. That also hangs in my prayer room and I think of it as two voyagers on Noah's ark.
I also have a book shelf with animals on the top who also make me smile. I once paid an exorbitant price for a wooden camel from the Bethlehem wood carvers who came to our parish every year. I don't regret the donation, but my husband thought I was a little crazy. I needed a camel for my nativity, but this one never looked right -- not the right size and my set isn't wooden. So the camel joined the animals on the shelf and I hope he's not insulted that a little stuffed monkey rides on his back.
I gave away the doll house I decorated for one of my daughters who didn't want it. The little girls who received it and all the furniture and inhabitants were thrilled. Their mom tells me they play with it almost every day. It was a little sacrifice to give it up, but I saw that as a good thing. Is there any spiritual benefit to giving up things you don't care about? I don't want to be attached to any of my possessions. And what a blessing to bring joy to others by giving them up. Although I've also had the experience of giving something I loved to someone I thought would appreciate it who passed it on to the Good Will. That taught me a lesson too. Fortunately, the certificate of my dad's First Communion came back to me and I happily restored it to an honored place on the wall.
Of course, the things that make me happiest aren't my possessions, but relationships, especially visits from family and friends, snuggles with babies, games and laughter, and meals around the family table. But when I can't enjoy those times, I treasure the memories embedded in many of my possessions: the dolls I made for two of my daughters, the doll I bought because she looked so much like a granddaughter, the owls that decorated my mom's kitchen for so many years, my McCalls cookbook that taught me to cook and has been used so much the back binding is gone, the shell wreath that won second prize at the County Fair. So many memories that make me smile. I thank God for them all.
What makes you happy? What makes you smile? I'd love to know.
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