The Find of a Lifetime

            The last trunk!  I didn’t think I was ever going to finish going through the attic, but I’d put it off for far too long.  My grandmother had left boxes upon boxes of *stuff* to me, rather than my mother.  I never quite understood that, except that my mother and grandmother never did really get along. 

            In any case, after going through what were mostly boxes of books, pictures, photographs, painting supplies, I had finally arrived at the last trunk in my mission of clearing the attic of all stuff that could be distributed, incorporated into my own or other households, or sold.  All of the photos would eventually be uploaded to places where any of the kids, grandkids or great-grandkids might be able to identify people and they would be properly labeled in albums eventually.

            The trunk was obviously very old, rather ornate in places, and with a curved top.  I opened it slowly, almost expecting time itself to escape with a rush of wind.  Instead, what I found was a book, sitting amidst carefully packed containers of various sizes and shapes.  Opening the book carefully, I read, “Diary of a 15^th Century Midwife – Angelika Schraeder.”  It was in German, of course, but fortunately, I’d learned enough of that to pass as a German among Germans as a child.

            I was floored.  I’d heard stories from grandma – of course all of the grandchildren knew that grandma’s stories were rarely accurate, and never to actually take her at her word, but here was actual evidence that at least some of her stories were actually true!  Angelika was famous, in my mind, for she was the beginning of the healers in our family.  From her, and down through the generations, the first of every generation inherited her healing ability and herbal interests.  Maybe, finally, many of the questions I had would be answered.

            Setting the book carefully aside, to be taken downstairs and examined for preservation purposes first, I picked up a rounded ceramic container and opened it.  It was empty, but had a faint smell of lavender.  One by one, I opened the containers, some large, some small, mostly medium sized ceramics of various quality.  One had obviously at some point past contained Valerian root, for who can miss that smell?  A few had small twigs or roots, absolutely dried out and containing none of the volatile oils that made them useful.  There were a couple of glass bottles, one broken in half in its wrapping, but mostly well preserved.  The blue of the glass made me guess that the glass might have come from Italy, but I’d have to find out how old the containers were before guessing at that.

            This trunk was truly the find of a lifetime.  Perhaps now, I could connect some of the past to my own future…