My Favorite Things

 I attended a delightful dinner last night with the ladies in my neighborhood, otherwise known as The Relief Society.  My friend Jennifer planned a really fun night, with the theme of "My Favorite Things."  Each sister brought a "brown paper package, tied up with string," which contained a few of her favorite things.  We had a very nice rendition of the song sung by the Kilpatrick women, then dished up a few of our favorite snacks while we opened each bag to find out more about each other.

A few days ago, I had filled my bag with some of Tiffany's Love Boxes and a map.  Nobody had any trouble guessing that the contents of this particular bag belonged to me, since I use my boxes for everything, and they are always on display in my home.  I explained the significance of the map, and how it represents my love for travel.  One box represented my pioneer heritage, the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality, and I love to invite people to our home.  The Nutcracker is symbolic of the significant role dance plays in our family's life, the reindeer is for my yard and the beauty that surrounds us, and the one Tziporah stole out of the picture is a Halloween cat who looks just like our cat, Sinatra, and represents fun holidays.

It was only hours later that it dawned on me:  all my favorite "things" weren't things at all.  They were all ideas.  I thought about that and tried to make sense of why I didn't pack the bag with objects.  Of course, I love my collection of Tiffany's boxes, but my idea was to use them to represent "things," which as I said, turned out to be "concepts."

I guess I'm truly not a "thing" person.  Do I have objects I could have put in the bag?  Hmm.....my wedding ring (symbolic of my marriage)...chocolate (I would have eaten it before the dinner)...sea glass (because it reminds me of trips and family time at the beach.)

So the question is, can we really separate our favorite things from the memories or ideas that they represent?  Do you have anything that you love just because it is a thing, without connecting any emotions to it?  I don't think I do, unless it's my favorite yellow spatula.  It's not symbolic of anything, it just works really well.  But to put that in a bag and say, "This spatula is what I'm all about," that would be dishonest.  Whenever I imagine what would happen if my house were on fire, I always visualize the best way to rescue all the children.  Never in my imaginary planning do I grab anything of value, or even of function.  "Wait!  I need my yellow spatula!  And all those violins!"  Nope.  Like all parents, I picture myself scooping up babies and placing them out of harm's way.  Too bad for all the stuff I haven't managed to throw away yet if there's ever a real fire.

The good news is that my memories, which are some of my favorite things, can't burn.  The bad news is that my children and Scott, who are definitely my favorite things, despite their inability to fit in a brown paper package, are 100% immune to my protection, when it comes right down to it.  They are out there in the world with all the cars and fires and cliffs and bad ideas and dangerous people.  So I have to rely on my VERY favorite "thing," my faith in a loving Father in Heaven, to protect them, and to comfort me if anything ever goes wrong.  Wouldn't it be easier if my favorite things were things?  It's just that tangible things are the least real, and the least lasting.

Tiffany, can you make a Love Box that represents that? ;)