Birdy

“Don’t tell anyone Lilly.” “Why, gramma?” “Because it’s our little secret, that’s why.”

My late grandmother Birdy left me some of her most valued treasures. Her round green silk hat box she bought in Japan was full of her favorite trinkets. I also kept some of her antique furniture with her items still in them in my garage. I didn’t have the room for them but I couldn’t give them away. I kept thinking that one day I would have a special place for them.

Birdy had many adventures in her lifetime and taught me about Europe through her travel brochures that she collected in a special drawer. I was particularly interested in the Palace of Versailles in France. “Did you go inside?” “Yes dear, it was beautiful!” I gravitated towards the photos of the Hall of Mirrors located inside the palace and dreamed of going there one day. My grandmother was always a part of me even after she passed. Her kindness, her heart and her passion for other cultures always touched me.

One day many years later, I went through her things that I had stored in my garage. I decided to look in her antique dresser that I always loved looking through when I was a child. When I opened the top drawer it fell out completely. When I tried to put it back in I noticed that built inside of it was a secret compartment in the back of the dresser. I opened the top of the built in box and inside was a little black notebook. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it many years before this?

I grabbed a cup of tea and sat down in my favorite chair to read it. When I opened it a few dried lavender flowers fell out into my lap. When I flipped to another page an old photo fell out of my mother who had passed many years ago. I felt a sort of calm as I read page after page of her travels and the places that she loved. I wondered what her life was like before I came into it? She had lived alone for a very long time. In this notebook she spoke of her many dreams, adventures and some of her regrets.

I read it til the end and when I got to the last page a key was taped inside the back cover of the notebook. It looked like the same key that went to the safety deposit box that had my mother’s handwritten note in it many years before. I had gone that day after my grandmother had passed to get what was left inside. The handwritten note from my mother had read “Mom, take care of Lilly when I go and remember to always help people in need also.” There must have been another safety deposit box I thought? I went to the same bank that I had been to many years before. When I handed the key to the bank teller she said “Haven’t seen one of these for over thirty years. Looks like this one was paid for in a trust.” I smiled as she lead me to the area where I can open it up and see yet another cherished Birdy treasure. When I opened the box it had US Treasury Bonds in it with a handwritten note from my grandmother.

“Here’s to your next adventure Lilly.” Love, Birdy. I smiled and my eyes welled up with tears. The US Treasury Bonds had matured to $20,000.

I thought about my mother’s note also and how much my grandmother did to help people in her lifetime. Instead of traveling to France, I decided to donate the money to Native American children in need. I also donated money to a few environmental groups that were making things better for future generations.

I started my own foundation to help children with educational scholarships. Then I wrote children’s books on adventures that I wanted to embark on in the future. Instead of going to France, I decorated my small patio with French antiques from a local Red Cross donation store near my home and played French music while I planted flowers in hand painted flower pots. These hand painted pots were given to me as gifts by the children who I had helped with my donations.

I framed that little black notebook along with the key in a glass box with the title BIRDY written in calligraphy next to it and a sketch of the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles on both sides of the old safety deposit key. This glass box full of promise is my most valued treasure. It gives me hope and helps me dream of adventures.

I always look at it and say, “one day Birdy, one day.”