Skeleton Keys

My Grandparents are amazing folks. I think one of the reasons I continue to document my memories is for a purely selfish reason….I never want to forget them or their stories AND, I want my children to have something so they can look back and see the amazing gene pool from which came. When I was a child, my Grandmother owed an antique store and I would spend hours rummaging through her endless supply of trinkets and treasures. I sifted through old buttons and fabric, books and baubles, and was perfectly content thinking about all the “adopted relatives” and their stories surrounding those fantastic bits. I remember having a box full of discarded keys and one specific ring of perhaps 15-20 random keys labeled “skeleton keys”. My Grandfather told me that a skeleton key could unlock ANY door and quite frankly, holding that ring of keys made me feel as if I could command the universe. At 7 years old, we think these things. My Grandpa said that that the magic wasn’t in the key, it was approaching the door and having the courage to “jimmy” the lock irrespective of what may be on the other side…afterall, it was a locked door and well, folks tend to lock doors that have things that should not be disturbed behind them (read Greek and Roman Mythology about all the bad things that can happen if you don’t believe me).

In our lives, there are lots of scary things that we have locked behind one closed door or another. I think Scrapbooking (using a general term for all the many ways folks choose to document their memories and stories) is a skeleton key of sorts. It is a way to unlock those things and get them out into the open and, I am now more sure than ever that my Grandfather was right…. the courageous part is stepping up to the door in the first place.

(Take a peek at these wonderful papercuts I found on Etsy….)