Trinket Tuesday

First of all, I am fully aware that today is not Tuesday. However, I have been meaning to tell you about Trinket Tuesday for weeks now. Yesterday was my last Trinket Tuesday so now seems to be a good time to finally write this post.

I am sure you are thinking to yourself, “What is Trinket Tuesday?” (You are also probably wondering how many times I can use the phrase “Trinket Tuesday” in one post. The answer is I will use it so often it will soon lose all meaning and simply become an annoying sound that rings in your head forever.) Trinket Tuesday sprang into being one slow week at work. To be honest, I can’t remember what brought it about but that is true of many of our best ideas.

Here is how Trinket Tuesday works. Each of you brings one beloved trinket from home and then you have show-and-tell just like when you were in elementary school. You stand in a circle and everyone takes turns displaying their trinket and explaining why it is important to them. Then the others ooh and ahh over it and a good time is had by all. It is a lovely way to bring a bit of joy and whimsy into a dull workday.

In the photo above you can see the trinket I brought for my first Trinket Tuesday. I have had the shell box for more years than I care to count. When I was a child we used to go to Cape Cod every year for a week’s vacation. It was a highly anticipated week. We talked and planned and yearned for what felt like years before it was finally time to go.

We would rent a little cabin at Shore Gardens. All the cabins had names like “Captain’s Quarters” and “Barnacle.” We were always intensely interested in which cabin we would get for our week. Shore Gardens was on a cove and had a little beach and a dock with rowboats. We would hang over the edge of the dock watching the fish and trying to catch crabs. We would collect shells and play on the beach. The beach at the cabin was for mornings and evenings. During the day, we would go to the National Seashore to play on the beach and hike the trails. Sometimes we would go to Rock Harbor in the evening to get ice cream and watch the boats come in. It was a week filled with sand, sea air, seafood, and pure joy.

At least once during the week, we would stop at one of the many gift shops that lined the road. These were treasure troves for small children. There were buckets and spades, bags of shells, little decorative lighthouses, t-shirts and sweatshirts, and, one year, shell boxes. I was probably 7 or 8 that year, I don’t remember for sure, but I do remember the first time I set eyes on those shell boxes. I thought they were beautiful. I had my allowance to spend, and I immediately decided on a shell box. It took me forever to choose which one since each had a different pattern of shells. But, finally, I chose, and I have had the box ever since. Sometimes it has been on display, and sometimes it has been packed away but I have always kept it because it reminds me of a time when life was magical and a week at the Cape was forever. It reminds me that sometimes the past was really as wonderful as you remember it to have been. It reminds me that times change and people change, but we always have our memories.

Friday is my last day at my job. We are moving to Pennsylvania and I will have to find a new job with new people. The people I work with now are fun and quirky and interesting and they do appreciate a good trinket. I will miss them and Trinket Tuesday.