Dia Walsh

It’s a process sorting through a lifetime of collected items to make the “Big Move.” Starting family life out in a couple of apartments, and then the first house, and then, years later, the final Big House. The collections get bigger as kids are added, along with inheriting your parents’ treasures and “collections.” With each move boxes get transferred and put into basements and storage areas, unopened and forgotten.

For years the difficult questions of, “Where do we put this?” were answered with the easy response of, “In the basement.”  We were finally retiring and selling our “Big House,” after buying an historic and vintage condo overlooking the lake.  Now the basement had to be tackled.  No easy project—

Seven rooms FULL, and stacked. In this final stage of the process, I came across an open box of dusty old prints and frames that had been moved from basement to basement. Curious, I picked it up and started checking out what I had left and neglected in this box for all these years.

I picked up one of the frames. It was very dusty and had no glass protection. It was a hand-embroidered sampler! Filthy and covered with years of dust. I immediately remembered it. Given to me by my longtime friend and Maid of Honor, Nora, who had passed away tragically the year before. We hadn’t kept in regular contact for years and lived in distant cities, but always felt the immediate bond every time we spoke.

Tears welled in my eyes and began streaming down my face. How had I forgotten this? The box was getting moved one more time; however, this time as soon as we moved to our new place, I took it out of its frame and carefully hand-washed and blocked the embroidered linen and placed it back in its original frame, this time setting in glass to protect it. I hung it lovingly on our new wall. The embroidery on the sampler reads, “The Way to a Friend’s House is Never Long.” Carved into the back of the frame are the words,“I love you Dia.  Happy Birthday  6-4-74  Nora.” 

I love you, too, Nora. And I miss you.