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Tuck a handkerchief in your pocket…

Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions for me. My grandmother, affectionately called “Bub”, passed away on Sunday and her funeral was yesterday. My heart ached for the loss, but hearing so many stories about her service-centered life helped to soothe and comfort me. The last few days have been a whirlwind of family, tears, and reminiscing about one of the most incredible women I have ever known. I could write an entire book about Bub; her incredible qualities, her humor, her thoughtfulness, her faith, her kindness, her ability to make everyone feel like they were important, her legendary potato salad. I could go on and on about the self-less, loving woman I was lucky enough to have; but instead I want to tell you a little story about one thing, among hundreds, that I love about my grandmother.

Bub was constantly making beautiful hankies and giving them away by the dozen. Most of my birthday cards had a $2 dollar bill and a white, lacy hankie tucked inside. Bub probably made a thousand hankies in her lifetime, and was constantly giving them to her family and friends. When my grandparents got married in 1950, my grandma had tucked a small, lace handkerchief in her pocket; this particular hankie from 1950 has become a family heirloom. My dear Granny made sure that for every wedding, every baby blessing, every baptism, every high school graduation, every Eagle Scout Court of Honor; that dear, now-yellowing handkerchief was tucked in her purse. The threads are thinning and the lace is incredibly fragile, a few years ago Bub sewed it into a small bag to protect it and keeps it in a special, wooden box. But even so, whenever there is a noteworthy family event, the hankie would be brought along.

At the cemetery, as the pall bearers laid my grandmother in her final resting place, dozens of white, lacy handkerchiefs came out of coat pockets and purses. I couldn’t help but smile, even in such a heartbreaking moment. How wonderful that so many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends, neighbors and loved ones have a small memento to cherish from such an incredible woman.

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