Inheritance

My Grandmother made this. I think it is beautiful. I use it everyday. It is starting to get holes in it, and although my instinct is to preserve it in a drawer, using it reminds me of her. I enjoy the simplicity, the care, the skill that went into making it, the colour and the intricate detail. Her nametape is sewn into the top right-hand corner. I also have a stunning evening gown and her engagement ring, which I wear as a necklace. Although she died when I was very young, I still have such vivid, joyful memories of the time I spent with her. Alongside the material possessions, I also inherited a genetic condition from her that greatly affects my daily life. I am sad that she was never diagnosed, that her pain was never recognised, that she was dismissed so many times, by so many people. I am sad that we share such pain, but it gives me the opportunity to understand her life in a way that no one else did. It connects me to her in a different way. Above all, it is love that is my memory of her.