No...I'm not talking about eating paste in kindergarten. Not even talking about sniffing glue. I'm talking about wallpaper!
The decor at that time was largely a collection I had built of antique toys. I had even found a wallpaper border that had antique toys on it. I never realized the kids had paid attention to any of it except a few toys that they liked to play with. But when I told them the room was changing, Savannah said sadly, "But Nanny...I won't see the horse any more." I realized she had not only noticed the horse on the wallpaper border, but had become fond of him. Not too surprising, because she loves horses. She had just never mentioned it before.
Recently, as we were tearing apart the living room and getting ready to do a major remodel, I was taking things out. The grand kids came over and were shocked. Standing there with their little jaws dropping open they asked, "Nanny! What are you doing???" I told them I was taking everything out of the room so daddy could build us a new fireplace and do some other work in the room. I told them it would all be different.
The decor at that time was largely a collection I had built of antique toys. I had even found a wallpaper border that had antique toys on it. I never realized the kids had paid attention to any of it except a few toys that they liked to play with. But when I told them the room was changing, Savannah said sadly, "But Nanny...I won't see the horse any more." I realized she had not only noticed the horse on the wallpaper border, but had become fond of him. Not too surprising, because she loves horses. She had just never mentioned it before.
Jerry thought I was crazy when I told him I remembered the wallpaper on my bedroom walls when I was in my youth bed. I told him it had children on teeter totters, etc. and it was in shades of pink and had vertical stripes. He gave me a stranger than normal look. And I also remembered that when Jessica was little she came out into the kitchen one day after getting dressed and said something like, "Ta-da!". I asked her why the enthusiasm, and she said she was dressed just like (and I forget the name she gave me). When I asked who that was, she led me to her bedroom and pointed to one of the several children on her wallpaper. She ha
d named them all and made them her friends.
d named them all and made them her friends. I realized then that those wallpaper memories are kind of special. So when we were stripping the wallpaper, I was very careful to remove a section of the border that had the horse on it. I put it in a frame and gave it to Savannah and told her she can now see the horse any time she wants. She was really delighted...and in thanking me, added, "And you got the dog, too!".
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