Hope Chest
it was her great-great
grandmother’s, a mix of oak
and pine, wide and deep
enough to store a
everything a new wife
should need: plates, towels, sheets
own mother had taken
the time to fill it with things
she thought would help her
daughter to become
the wife and bride she knew she
could be, and after
she married, she sat
in front of the chest, sorting
through the towels and
dishes, and taped along
the hard bottom she found a
neatly handwritten note
which simply said “always
have your own money. at least
enough to begin
again, should you
ever find yourself on your own. it
was signed “Love,
Mary”- the name
of her great-great-grandmother.
she didn’t think much
of it until nine
years later when she awakened
to find the other
side of their bed empty
and cold. she then remembered
the note, written by
a woman who loved
her and knew her story
before she was even
born, making this
new beginning effortless, and
so much easier than
it was for the many women
who came
before her...
it was her great-great
grandmother’s, a mix of oak
and pine, wide and deep
enough to store a
everything a new wife
should need: plates, towels, sheets
own mother had taken
the time to fill it with things
she thought would help her
daughter to become
the wife and bride she knew she
could be, and after
she married, she sat
in front of the chest, sorting
through the towels and
dishes, and taped along
the hard bottom she found a
neatly handwritten note
which simply said “always
have your own money. at least
enough to begin
again, should you
ever find yourself on your own. it
was signed “Love,
Mary”- the name
of her great-great-grandmother.
she didn’t think much
of it until nine
years later when she awakened
to find the other
side of their bed empty
and cold. she then remembered
the note, written by
a woman who loved
her and knew her story
before she was even
born, making this
new beginning effortless, and
so much easier than
it was for the many women
who came
before her...