A few weeks ago, my nephew was cleaning a closet when he came upon an old safety razor and shaving brush. He sent me a photo and I immediately recognized them as having belonged to my Dad. The razor dates to well before World War II and the brush was a gift to him in the 1950’s.
These two simple items immediately brought back a rush of memories about my Dad. How I sat and watched him lather up his brush in a cup of shaving soap. How he would carefully put a new blade into the 3-piece shaver and tighten it down just enough to get a close shave, but not enough to cut himself. How he laughed at me the first time I tried to shave with it and cut myself everywhere.
After World War II, the clean-shaven look was popular, so new types of shaving devices were being invented all the time. My father resisted every one of them, preferring his old brass razor. His shaving brush had a broken handle and very few bristles left, so we did manage to get him to accept the brush you see as a gift on Father’s Day.
I decided I wanted to keep these mementos, so I asked my nephew to send them to me. When I received them, I realized that when we remember someone who is gone, just by thinking about them, we keep the memory of them — their essence, their persona, their spirit — alive a little bit longer.
My Dad’s been dead for over 60 years. But when I look at his old razor, he comes alive again in me — maybe for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two. It’s a moment of immortality for him. To live again after 60 years. Wow.
No human lives on this earth forever. Aristotle, Da Vinci, Einstein — even the most famous names in history will one day fade away. But if you want someone whose spirit you love to live just a little longer, keep something that will remind you of them. But don’t tuck it away. Keep it where you’ll see it, remember them, and smile.
If you want the next generation to remember someone remarkable in your life, pass their mementos to the young ones, along with written stories about what those items say about the one you love. That’s how family histories are created. That’s how memories stay alive “forever.”
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