Day 86 - 90

Over the last few days, Jon and I have been talking a lot about buying less and buying used--which is exciting to me for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I love hand-me-downs. I love that second- (or third-) hand clothes, books and kitchen items have had a life before my life with them. I love that in this former life that they were loved just as much as I love them, likely for different reasons. But--who knows?--maybe for the same ones too.

Using the same baking sheets my Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bill used to bake nutbread is, well, a special treat in itself.

Jon, making the nutbread that's been in my fam forever. Its path:
Us < Uncle Bill < Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bill < Kuma Peloza
That pot? Jon's sis Jen gave it to us when she got married--and new pans.

I dig that Julian, and now Kai, are connected to my friends' kids--through Sumner's snow pants (and pretty much everything else he ever wore) and Marty's fireman shirt--even if they don't often (or ever) play together because they're separated by too many years or too many miles.

It delights me to think that when when we page through Goodnight, Gorilla (as we did tonight) the words Julian and Kai come up with to describe the images are likely similar--but not identical--to the ones my friend Jeffrey's girls used to tell the story when they read the book eight or ten years ago. Or that when Julian sings "Jingle Cats" (as he's done pretty much every night for last couple of weeks), he's as least as jubilant as my friend Val was to receive this book as a gift, Christmas 2008. (Ha!)

The other day, Jon and I were talking about whether or not we should save a few of our boys' favorite outfits from when they were very young. We didn't really come to any real conclusion. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like passing these cherished duds along to someone else will sort of (to paraphrase a favorite band) prolong their magic. What do you think?