the chest at my feet

As i awaken to the sound of my rooster outside my window scramming come feed me ! and the crispness in the fall air i have to ponder ... how'd i get so lucky ? granted life is hectic busy and a non stop merry go round but sometimes you have to look at what you have to be thankful for ... this lil fit of nostalgia has been brought on by something i did yesterday i was cleaning out a storage building and came across my granny's ceder chest , now this chest once belonged to my great granny's then granny then mama now me in it is 3 generations of wedding lining's, letter during the war WWII tickets for sugar during the depression my daddy's baby booties ( had to laugh cause well you now how girl's feel about there daddy ) postcard's from all over the world baby books death book's as i sat going through all this stuff and crying most of the time , it made me realize how lucky i am that the women in my life have kept all this stuff to past down it made me realize how tight those family ties are bound this chest with it's brittle papers clippings old pictures mostly during the turn of the century , and most of the men look like gangsters everybody back then looks like AL Capone or Clark Gable ( wow what a time to have lived ) and the women are all dressed to the nine's ... this precious chest now sits at the foot of my bed to be filled with all the things form my life to be passed to my kid's for there life .. i woke up and realized that i had 4 generations of keepsakes at my feet , to protect me , keep me happy, and to make sure i do the right things ... not to mention all the old old old recipes i found that you cant even get the ingredients for anymore my how fast life has changed so I'm thankful for my past and the strong women who have lived to make me a better person .