Sunday, January 22, 2012

52 Week Photo Project — Week 3

week3-thingyoulove

This week's theme is "Your Favorite Thing." LensProToGo elaborated on the theme on their blog:
We want everyone to get to the core of this and find something that they like more than everything else and hold close to their heart. What is the one thing you would most likely save if your house was on fire (considering your family, including all animals, were safe). If you could only keep 1 thing (again considering you could keep your family and pets) what would you want to save?

I like that they added the "in case of fire" explanation. It really made me think about the assignment. I, of course thought of things like all my photos, my computer or CD/DVD back ups, but that seemed too obvious. I wanted to dig deeper.

I mentally scanned my house, thinking of objects in each room, assessing their value. Not monetary but emotional. It was eye opening how many things I thought of as replaceable or not "fire scenario" significant.

As soon as I thought of this, though, I knew it was the one. I picked an oil painting that hangs in my home office. It's on the wall right now, up and to my right, looking beautiful against the "library green" wall. Neither the subject matter nor artist are what makes this painting so special for me, though. It's all of the meaning and emotion behind it.

oilpainting

My mom gave me this painting which was given to her by Marian, my godmother. I never met Marian. She passed away shortly after I was baptized. Marian was my mother's mentor, confidant and I suspect, a kind of second mother. They were very close. I know my mother cherishes this painting because Marian gave it to her, so it means that much more that my mom, in turn, gave it to me. I would be positively devastated if anything happened to it (which is why I should probably take it to a reputable restorer to make sure it is and stays in good shape. The label on the back is brittle and falling off and I noticed some crackling in the paint.

painting-back
cracking paint

It most certainly qualifies for the "in case of fire" scenario posed by LensProToGo.

What about you? What is YOUR favorite thing, the one thing you'd want to save? Trust me, it's a very thought-provoking and emotional question.

4 comments:

  1. My NaNa, whom I simply adore for so many reasons (one being that during the 80s she had a framed picture of Rick James on her bedside table) gave me my PaPa's WWII dog tags and medals. She knew that I would appreciate them and cherish them and I do. Also, Nana and I have birthdays a week apart and share the same birthstone of opal. For many years she wore a simple opal ring that wasn't very expensive but it was the fanciest thing she owned. A few years ago she gave it to me and I have it in my fire safe, right next to my Grandfather's medals. They aren't worth much in monetary value but in sentimental value they are priceless.

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    1. Sentimental value trumps monetary value every time, doesn't it, even if the item is high in both. I love that she gave you items that SHE knew would be of such a high sentimental value to you as they are to her.

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  2. I think mine would be the necklace my beloved designed and had made for me when we were dating. It's a 4-leafed clover with an opal (one of my favorite stones) in each leaf, and is a reminder to us both of the day we met. Laura's comment makes me think I should store it in the fire safe instead of my jewelry box. Thanks for the tip, Laura!

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    1. That sounds like the perfect "in case of" item. Knowing that he designed it just for you is so special.

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