change purse 24 by Article Announcement
Published Date: 11/05/08
Change Purse
I don?t know what is was about the small change purse I found in my mom?s closet, but I was fascinated with it. I was young when I found it, and she told me that I could have it. It was very small and it was made of clear plastic. Inside seemed to be clues to the life my mom had before she ever had me. There was money, a movie ticket stub, and a little earring that didn?t seem to have a mate. I remember this all so clearly even though I couldn?t have been more than five when I found that change purse. It was something that I kept for a long time.
I don?t know where that change purse went, but I still remember it clearly. I think I felt closer to my mom when I held it in my hands, and it gave me something to have with me when I missed her. My mom was a single mother for a long time, and there were many times when I missed her. She had to work to take care of us. She could have collected welfare and stayed home with us, but I am glad she didn?t. Even though there were moments when I had to hold that change purse just to be comforted, she gave me the right idea about what it means to be a woman and to stand on my own two feet.
Today I have a change purse of my own. In fact, I have five or six of them. I couldn?t believe it when my little girl came out of my room with one of them in her hands with a look of wonder on her face. The change purse was one that I don?t use any longer, and it was full of pennies. She asked me if she could have the pennies, and it brought me back to my childhood and that change purse of my moms that I loved so much. I told her she could keep the whole thing if she wanted, even if it didn?t have the same meaning to her.
When I cleaned her room a few weeks later I found the change purse I had given her, and I had a little tear in my eye when I found it. She had saved a picture she had drawn of all of us and folded it up. She then took that picture and tucked it into the change purse along with the pennies that remained. I couldn?t believe it. She had tucked it into her desk drawer for safekeeping, and this little girl never takes care of anything. I am able to work at home so I?m with her a lot, but I am glad to know that she wants to keep that little piece of me with her.
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