Last week sometime, Oprah had Nate on her show. They were talking about how your home should tell a story about WHO you are the minute someone walks in. He said that every home should have a few key things. First thing was souvenirs from a trip that made you happy. Next: a special framed letter or note from someone, and then he talked about framing children's art work and getting if off the fridge. He said everyone needs something from the sea and also a weird chair that doesn't really match anything else in the room. Through it all, I kept thinking about my Uncle Dave's little apartment in CT. It was all of like 200 square feet or something like that. Even though I last saw it at age 8, I can still recall the layout, and what it all looked like. It told a story about who he was. It was great.

After the Nate show I set out on a mission to do some of the things he talked about. I still have deep regrets about the letters I threw away before getting married and moving out of my purple Murray St. bedroom. My Uncle Dave and I had written since the late 70s, tapering off slowly as I got older and ending with his death in 1994. I had hundreds of cards, letters and who knows what in a box under my bed. I am 99.9% sure they all went even though I can't actually remember DOING it. I did save a handful of cards and notes because of the fun or artsy cards they were written on. I knew they were in my desk at school.

At Kohl's that weekend I found a frame that I knew Uncle Dave would have loved. I had pictured one of the few remaining notes being framed and hung in my home, earning me a "Nate point". I felt this is where I needed to start, and I couldn't go on until I accomplished this.

I finally got around to finding the small stash at work. I was hugely disappointed in what I found. A few of the notes were on cards that I removed the backs from, thus losing half the message. The others were on strange postcards with nose cut outs in case you were in need of a quick Halloween costume. In other words, nothing suitable for framing from Nate's point of view, or my own for that matter.

This morning I searched the house frantically for maybe an overlooked note stashed in with my wedding cards. I did find a couple, but they were formal and not at all what I wanted. I was looking for the random, trivial ramble of his busy life. I again returned to my small stack of postcards. I spent some time wondering why the notes I wanted so much were gone, as was the person who wrote them, while I hung on to a few stacks of stupid school girl notes from friends I talk to every day. Then I had an idea. At Bed Bath and Beyond I found an 11x14 frame that floats a document between 2 pieces of glass. I got it and put together a collage of the cards and a favorite photo. I hung it over my computer where I will see it often. I am not sure I am happy with the layout, but for now I feel at peace with it.

Next project is to go through the stash of the kids art work and see what is frame worthy. Cheryl already told me that my little school desk qualifies as my 1 chair that doesn't "go" and I need to bring home my Florida shell from 1975 that sits on my classroom shelf. Aunt Barb and I bought that right before the car was broken into on the beach. So not only is it a piece of the sea, but a souvenir and a story in itself.