Recently my granddaughter, Brooke, called. “Grandma, I’m making a tree skirt for my Christmas tree and I need some buttons. Do you have any you inherited from your mom?”

“Oh, I’m sure,” I said. “Come on over and we’ll see what we can find.”

Brooke sat on the couch and looked carefully through my collection. Some were in old pickle jars, others had been strung on an old piece of wire. Still others were in sacks. “Where did all these buttons come from?”

“Well, the pile you’re looking at now came from my grandmother. They lived through the Depression in the 30s. Times were really tough then. They wore their clothes until they wore out, then cut them up for material for quilts. They cut the buttons off so they could be used again on another garment.”

Brooke continued to scrutinize each one. Finally, she said, “I think I’ll take the ones that look like this.” She held up a large white one, then laid the matching ones out on the coffee table. I looked closely at it and laughed. “Brooke, do you have any idea what kind of garment these came off of?”

She looked puzzled. “No.”

“Those are off your great-great grandpa’s long-handled underwear. The big ones were for the rear end flap and the little ones went down the front.”

My sentimental granddaughter grinned, “Perfect!

 

My latest book, Joshua’s Journey: One Boy’s Victory Over Allergies is available here on Amazon.com. All my books are available in Kindle and paperback. The Miracle Books are also available in audible.