This morning was not an easy morning. It was hard to get up this Thursday morn. Lots of grumbling, and feet dragging was involved.
As I left the house in a puddle of self-pity my mom put a necklace over my head. It's new and a gift from her sister. I think I mumbled a "thanks" and left for work.
At the second or third red light I took the time to really investigate the necklace.
It was gorgeous, and I thought to myself, "this looks like an old heirloom, too bad it's too new."
Is it though? Is it too new?
My favorite dictionary (and yes I have a favorite dictionary) is The American Heritage etymology dictionary. That means that each word not only is defined but it also has the history of the word, its original language, form, and original definition. This means that when I look up a word I can see what its original intention was.
"Heirloom" according to the The American Heritage Dictionary: (n.) A valued possession passed down in a family through succeeding generations.
It is derived from Middle English, and was originally written heirlome.
Essentially an heirloom is a physical item of tradition. So let's look up tradition in TAHD!
tradition (n.): The passing down of a culture from generation to generation, esp. orally. A custom handed down.
Tradition is originally Latin meaning hand over, coming from the prefix trans meaning give.
Ya know what I didn't see in that definition? A requirement that a tradition or heirloom has to be ancient or even old. That definition has everything to do with moving forward.
Do you realize what that means?
It means that you can literally create a tradition today.
In the show Gossip Girl, Blair and Serena frequently fight. When on good terms the girls have a standing Sunday morning date.
Serena's next line was, "well they're not traditions if they're new."
Sorry Serena, Blair actually can!
So, while this necklace of my mother's might be new, it has all the makings of being an heirloom.
We love this necklace. It's beautiful, and feels significant. Thus, should we so chose this necklace can become an heirloom and be the beginning of a tradition.
An idea that this subject should bring to the forefront of all our minds is the possibility for the future. For some of us looking to the past might not be a pleasant experience or we might not have anything we even want to pass forward. And this is the best part of it all - we can create new traditions, new heirlooms TODAY!
I love Rose - she is truly the poster child for completely changing the entire direction of your life in one hour!
Here's the best part - we can choose! We can change! You can be a completely different person with new goals, ideas and traditions than you were when you started reading this.
We all know individuals and families with impressive traditions and heirlooms. You may have the good fortune to have wonderful traditions as well. But whether you have traditions and heirlooms or not, now that we better understand what traditions and heirlooms are we can all create a heritage of what will be special memories and precious items that we can pass on to our loved ones.
You can do it, Hunters! This is an exciting new chapter - embrace it! I love this beautiful necklace I have declared an heirloom as of 11.5 hours ago. It's perfect.
Good luck, and Happy Hunting!
