From the past

Over the summer we reacquired a display case that Gregg built for my grandmother. I decided to fill it with old irons, old apothecary trinkets, old formulary books, an old prized cobalt blue bottle of oil of lavender, and all sorts of once-tried remedies gathered from the basements of my pharmacist father’s small-town Iowa drug stores. Lots of stuff from the past.

Filling that case has brought gentle pleasure, reminding me of historical ways of addressing difficulties (clothing wrinkles, digestive runs or stops, coughs, catarrh, and on and on), and familial ties. I am fascinated by our ways of remedying and relating, by our fixes for maladies and meandering path of family, by our failing to learn and our ability to learn from the past.

This is what the Lord says, ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’ – Jeremiah 6:16