“You can’t take it all with you”

That’s what my grandfather always used to say. He would say it when we would work to much or fret over the small things; over the material things. He was right, in the end it’s just you and you can’t take it all with you.

He passed away a few months ago. I learned that what you can’t take with you gets left behind.

Material things can be confusing because though they are not alive, they can contain life. I see his essence and his spirit in his work desk, his paintbrushes, his cowboy hat.

My mother flew to Florida to help with his arrangements. She wore his cowboy hat home, the spirit and memories it held comforted her. In a hurry to make her flight she forgot it on a peg in the airport bathroom. She spent days trying to call and locate it, she was devastated. We never found it, the airport said someone probably just threw it away.

Written by Abby Bailey

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