What good is a souvenir?

sou·ve·nir | ˌso͞ovəˈnir |

noun

a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event

What good is a souvenir? 

Some souvenirs are lame like the, more than 5 shot glasses we have purchased in our travels as mementos of places we been, when once washed the logo comes off. Leaving them no longer a souvenir, just a shot glass. I don’t need five blank shot glasses. 

You could argue that I don’t need another sweater, but…

I love this sweater. Not for any reason you might think. It wasn’t a gift. It isn’t my favorite color. It is not one of those, “You won’t believe the deal I got on this!” stories either.

When I see this sweater it reminds me of a lovely day a few years ago when a friend of my heart from, what often seems like another life, spent a September Saturday with me. We meandered through my home town, enjoying lunch overlooking the Mississippi River and stopping in quaint shops in the historic district, that’s where I found this sweater.

This friend has been in my life since 1986. Well she was around before that, but we weren’t friends until working together in the polyester trenches, grease traps and all at ...McDonald’s. From sharing clothes, late night parties, strange faces made of butter, touring around town, “sharing,” McDonald’s chocolate chip cookies, playing the euchre “circuit,” to our first year of college, laughter, hugs, and tears were never spared.

We’ve gone long stretches over the child rearing years without a word to each other, but somehow, the friendship hasn’t lost any of it’s quirky luster.

This friend comes from a huge close knit family with lots of love inside it. She has 8 children, 3 grandchildren, (at last count;) is a full time nurse and the right hand of the office she manages. She has a million creative hobbies that she is expert level at, too many to tell you. Did I mention she hunts? And bakes delicious things with love you can taste.

All these things to chose from, yet she spent a gratuitous amount of time that day, with just me.

So yeah, I love wearing this sweater. Its like a hug from that September day, from my friend and all the love that a 34 year friendship implies.

This is a successful “souvenir.”