The Button Jar

Just a week ago I was in a discussion with friends on social media about de-cluttering and letting go to relieve the stress that clutter can cause. Many were sentimental about some items and said they couldn't part with them. It is the same with the mind.You can clutter it with old beliefs, negative thoughts, and old theories.Letting go one day at a time, one item at the time can eased the situation. I de-cluttered two years ago when I packed up my home of 78 years and moved to Middle Tennessee. Many of the things I packed are in the garage now. After the discussion I went to de-clutter the second time. There it was sitting alone on top of a box, my Mother's button jar!This one gallon jar has held buttons for over sixty years. My first recollection of the button collection was when I was about ten years or twelve years old. The big jar was what she used to stored her buttons to replace missing ones from our clothing.With eight children to dress it was necessary to hand me down clothes from the oldest to the youngest. When the clothes were thread bare she would snip off the buttons and store them in a jar and recycle the clothes a cleaning rags. When my mother and father passed away the jar was sitting in their pantry all alone. No one wanted it so I took it home . I continued the tradition of saving buttons and placing them in the jar. I replaced missing buttons from my families clothes from the button jar.Then as we purchased new clothes, the manufactuers started attaching extra buttons to the clothings items. There were so many buttons I decided to donate some for a project my local Business and Professional Women's Club had begun to raise money for scholarships for student in financial need.Mabel Daughtery, our oldest member came up with the project of button bracelets.To make the bracelets a strip of elastic mesh was cut and seamed to stretch and go on a wrist.Decorative buttons were sewn on to the mesh completely covering the wrist band.Many bracelets were made with beautiful designs.$12,000 was raised for the scholarship fund. After the bracelet project, buttons glued on picture frames became a very popular item. By that time decorative buttons could be purchased in a yard goods store.Party stores began to sell little theme cake decorations which became very popular for theme picture frames. Many years have passed since I used or replaced any buttons for the button jar.It is sitting alone as if stuck in a time warp. Will the jar be an inspiration for another project ? Maybe it will continue to be the great vessel to hold those wonderful antigue buttons.