Engraved Memory

My bride, who I call Beloved, was going through some old boxes and drawers and found an I.D. bracelet she was given on her tenth birthday. Identification bracelets were All The Rage in the late Sixties and early Seventies, and Beloved had made it abundantly clear that she wanted one with her name engraved on it.

Apparently, my father-in-law-to-be found the cash to purchase a bracelet, but couldn't bring himself to pay extra for the engraving, so he did it himself with whatever tool he had in his workshop.

At the time, you can be sure that Beloved's "Thanks, Daddy" was less than enthusiastic as she looked at her hand-scrawled name...but this morning, four months away from being fifteen years after her father's death, there's not a keepsake that comes anywhere close to being more precious.

Truth is...the passage of time and the changing circumstances of life certainly do affect the value of things.