Sentimental Saturday: Train

When I was a child, my mother would take me and my siblings to visit our grandparents every Saturday. My gramp had a C.B. in the basement, along with a huge train setup. The trains and little scenes that were spread around almost the entire basement entertained us for hours.

My gramp passed away when I was a senior in high school. I can still hear his laugh, see his smile and twinkly eyes, smell his working-man scent. I miss him often and wish I could tell him what I’m reading. Despite his having only a grammar school education, he was passionate about reading and would take time to see what book I had with me each week.

This Union Pacific train car sits on my studio bookshelf, a reminder of fun Saturday mornings as well as his insistence that books were vitally important. I don’t need an object to bring these things to mind, but there are days when I get a lot of satisfaction from holding the train car and knowing that he once held it, too.

What object links you to someone you love and miss?  Feel free to share in the comments or leave a link to your own Sentimental Saturday post.