The Keepthings

Stories of lost loved ones inspired by the things they left behind ❤️ Created/edited by @Deborah_A_Way. •

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“My father wasn’t much of a cook, but after my mother became sick with Parkinson’s disease and had trouble running the kitchen, he stepped in to supplement their daily menu with coleslaw, which he loved.” —from Jen Berlfein Burns’ MY FATHER’S MANDOLINE

https://t.co/Z8dNqNZ9sF

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“I was 16 when my father came home from his three-month stay in the mental hospital. He wasn’t the ranting and raving, blazing-eyed, delusional man who’d left, but he wasn’t my pre–nervous breakdown father either.” —from @deborahlott8’s THE QUACK-UP DUCK

https://t.co/0UDDWircIx

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“When his dementia had progressed to the point where he hardly spoke and I was desperate to find a special gift for the man who’d given us all so much…I found this music box made for people with memory decline.” —from @TeriDrobnick’s DAD’S MUSIC BOX

https://t.co/wWV4PslFGL

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"He’s small, the toothpick man, less than two inches high, his mouth a crater rimmed with uneven teeth. There was once a toothpick woman, like the man except with a dirndl skirt. I do not know what became of her." —from @RuthBonapace's THE TOOTHPICK MAN

https://t.co/jlIwBYjPh4

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“I loved being with her and would follow her around with a spiral notebook, pretending to be a journalist so she’d tell me stories about her life growing up.” —from Emily Hall’s MOM-MOM’S “OLD-FASHIONED GIRL”

https://t.co/20CLnUZbyX

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“When my first child was born, I didn’t know I needed help. But Ginger, my mother-in-law, knew. She was as gentle with me as she was with my baby.” —from Martha Bonnie’s LEO THE LION

https://t.co/eJyUIWyhj1

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“When I was growing up, our house was strewn with branded items from companies my parents’ funeral home did business with. This spatula came from the gas station where we fueled up the hearse.” —from Stephanie French’s MOM’S CHOCOLATE-SHEET-CAKE SPATULA

https://t.co/JTFF6afPGM

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"Pop could be tough. I can still hear his anger over my lack of political knowledge and involvement. And his alarm at my college boyfriend’s questionable degree of ambition. But he believed in my capabilities..." —from Shoshana Koch's THE POP BRACELET

https://t.co/1iQjWhzPpS

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“My father was happiest on a windy summer day on Lake Ontario aboard his sailboat, Plum Danish—the realization of a dream he’d had since he was a boy sailing off the shores of Denmark.” —from @WendyDHudson’s THE YOUNGSTOWN REGATTA CAP

https://t.co/LMzQklX1gA

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"But before we could even think about life without Mom, we had to get through her funeral. We were supposed to deliver a eulogy, to sum her up in words. In a last-minute decision, we summoned the plates..." —from Amanda Kernahan's THE PLATES

https://t.co/mPVeMW2S4w

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

A really moving Keepthings story is included in this @lithub roundup...

https://t.co/bVSOYCEMs3

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“When she came home from her dream trip, to Jerusalem, and showed me the wooden Wailing Wall, she told me proudly, ‘There’s only seven of these in the whole world!’” —from Nancy Conyers' AUNT HELEN'S WAILING WALL

https://t.co/riahVyVQ9r

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"My first husband was a woodsman—a trail designer and builder—so he often smelled of dirt, sawdust and chainsaw bar oil. [But] at some point he picked up a fancy shave cream...." —from Sarah Kilch Gaffney's STEVE'S MANGO VANILLA SHAVE CREAM

https://t.co/u0i4F1jkXr

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“To me, squirrels symbolize lightheartedness, fun, joy and the value of not taking life too seriously. These are all things I wanted for L….” —from Pola Russo's uncommonly raw and tender MY SISTER'S QUILT

https://t.co/kzANKEWscN

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"Being together in silent snowfall, with the quiet hush of skis on the icy tracks, was a specific kind of soul language only we understood." —from Jenn Smits-Kilgus's beautiful story about her dad, KEYS TO WATERVILLE

https://t.co/f3owp9xYfs

[Fisher Space Pen Co. @FisherPenCo]

What an incredible keepsake to help take this daughter back to a more innocent time and a reminder of dad's love.

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

Looking forward to this reading in partnership with @DitmasLit as part of @BKBF!

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

"When my brother was seven and I was three, our mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died the following year. Daddy told my aunt, 'I'll never be happy again.' And he really wasn’t." —from Nancy Malcolm's LETTERS TO SANTA, 1958 AND 1959

https://t.co/p3NC4yuwyx

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

@WhitingFdn @The_Rumpus ❤️ Wonder-in-grief is one of the things I love most about the tiny, beautiful stories people write for The Keepthings https://t.co/o3Qdrs3UXF

https://t.co/EI4YRusYmv

[The Keepthings @thekeepthings]

“My dad was the kind of guy who would drive 15 miles out of town to get gas for a few cents cheaper. He was a woodshop teacher…and a lover of puns and bird-watching, but more than anything he was a perfectionist.”—from @rndkathryn’s DAD’S L-SQUARE RULER

https://t.co/YjKh8b4n6H