Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite: Native American Souvenir Barrette: The Destiny of Things, Story #107
A heart felt item is gone!
Yes, as you can see, even Bambi is shedding a tear! No fear, it came with an email making letting go more encouraging. Here it is:
hello kennedy!
i received your lovely barrette and i love it! i equally enjoyed your very touching note and sweet items enclosed with the barrette.
i want to congratulate you on your recovery and i think the idea of exchanging stories for things is amazing. you are incredibly resilient and empowered!
i am not native american and love native american clothing, art, history, people and jewelry. i think i am an indigenous person trapped in a white body : )
i have been wearing the barrette and i just love it!
keep up your amazing work and never stop!
much love,
elizabeth xoxoxo
And this is what I wrote back:
From the date on the email, I've procrastinated long enough on this posting due the sadness and seller's remorse I used to feel when I looked at this barrette in my sales area! I finally can look at it and even though in my head I've known and been telling myself over and over that I can't use it due to being allergic to sterling, my heart was feeling pain.
I think I might have gift guilt or something. I don't know how I got it in my head that "gift giving is kept forever" and I feel like it's a necessary extension of the person who gave it to me. I have a terrible time letting of gifts, even if I've never used them and have kept many of them for decades!
This is a special gift because not only is it a gift, but it's a souvenir gift from the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park in California. Click on the highlighted link to go to their official sites.
Here's the view as you enter Yosemite (wiki link for more information and pictures) from Inspiration Point with El Capitan (wiki link info), the largest piece of granite on the earth, to the left and Half Dome (wiki link info) opposite.
My parents took us to Yosimite every spring or summer, sometimes bi-yearly for the snow season. It holds many happy memories, like hiking to Sentinel Dome (wiki link) to visit Jeffrey Pine, which was a pine tree growing out of solid granite. Here's a picture of where it formerly stood:
We used to love driving through the HUGE Wawona Tunnel Tree. There are several pictures of us driving through each year til it fell from a heavy snow storm, like this one here, but in color:
The giant sequoia is estimated to have been 2,300 years old. It is now known as the Fallen Tunnel Tree.
And one of my favorites was when they threw fire logs of a cliff every night! It was better than a bedtime story and was called, Yosemite Firefall (wiki link for more info). We would sit around a camp fire with the Forest Ranger and sing songs. Here's a photo of the grand final of each evening!
Interesting, I just noticed that the three memories I chose off the top of my head are the ones that are no longer available at Yosemite. I wonder what that means. Anyways...
Saying Goodbye: We probably went on the tour of the Awhanee Hotel every year, but I don't remember choosing souvenirs from the gift shop until I was in my teens.
And this souvenir gift seems even more heart felt because I can only remember getting two souvenirs from the Awahnee and this is one of them. It was a pair, but one of my friends borrowed the other one and never returned it. I've been thinking of letting go of my 14k Zuni Sun God ring, which is the other souvenir from the Ahwahnee Gift Shop, but I can't do that yet, even though I can't wear it due to allergies.
One of my other childhood souvenirs is here.
What I Learned:
1. I have a lot of souvenirs and am used to getting one from almost everywhere I go! What an eye opening realization! My Dad and I have souvenir matchboxes from restaurants. I still pick up a rock and put it in my pocket from beaches and parks. If I go to somewhere special, I seek out something to keep as a memento. Even if it's a just a new ice-cream shop or opening of an art gallery!
I tend to save stickers worn to get into events, ticket stubs and parking tabs from them too! Yes, I have quite an extensive paper hoard that I do throw out periodically, but I wonder how much of it has survived through the years. They are in the bottom boxes of my stacks to the ceiling.
2. Souvenirs are a big thing in our family and we often loaded up on souvenir gifts to give to our friends and relatives when we returned home. I also saved rocks, dirt and sand from them too, however those are long gone, but I do have some of the shells. I kept them all categorized and labeled too in little glass tubes from my bead collection.
3. Maybe this item was so heart felt to let go because the memories in it are ones that can no longer be physically visited. My family visits Yosemite each autumn. As soon as we arrive at Camp Curry, my mom calls to make reservations for the next year! We all still hike to Yosemite Falls and sometimes there's snow!
Which souvenirs are your favorite and what memories do they hold for you?
Thank you Elizabeth for emailing your story with kind encouraging words and it makes me so happy we both love all things Native American and especially that you wear it often. I wore them often to keep my hair off my face!
I can't thank Etsy enough for all the connections, dehoarding and adventures I've had since opening three shops and am working on opening a fourth shop, JunkDrawerLoveEtsy! The dehoarding continues as I can see more light at the end of the tunnel now!
Thank you visitors from US, Canada, Switzerland, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, Italy and Mexico for joining me in my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things! via VintageToGoEtsy and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy!
Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things VintageToGoEtsy and JunkDrawerLoveEtsy! There are only a few items listed in JunkDrawerLoveEtsy and will be listing 2-3 new things there daily and 1-2 items at the other shops! Thanks for looking!
Note to self: proof read this, count up souvenirs, add related stories.
Most Read Story of the Week: "Say When" Jigger Shot Glass: The Destiny of Things, Story #106
Most Read Story of the Month and All Time: My Louis Vuitton Collection: my end and someone's beginnings
i received your lovely barrette and i love it! i equally enjoyed your very touching note and sweet items enclosed with the barrette.
i want to congratulate you on your recovery and i think the idea of exchanging stories for things is amazing. you are incredibly resilient and empowered!
i am not native american and love native american clothing, art, history, people and jewelry. i think i am an indigenous person trapped in a white body : )
i have been wearing the barrette and i just love it!
keep up your amazing work and never stop!
much love,
elizabeth xoxoxo
And this is what I wrote back:
From the date on the email, I've procrastinated long enough on this posting due the sadness and seller's remorse I used to feel when I looked at this barrette in my sales area! I finally can look at it and even though in my head I've known and been telling myself over and over that I can't use it due to being allergic to sterling, my heart was feeling pain.
I think I might have gift guilt or something. I don't know how I got it in my head that "gift giving is kept forever" and I feel like it's a necessary extension of the person who gave it to me. I have a terrible time letting of gifts, even if I've never used them and have kept many of them for decades!
This is a special gift because not only is it a gift, but it's a souvenir gift from the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park in California. Click on the highlighted link to go to their official sites.
Here's the view as you enter Yosemite (wiki link for more information and pictures) from Inspiration Point with El Capitan (wiki link info), the largest piece of granite on the earth, to the left and Half Dome (wiki link info) opposite.
My parents took us to Yosimite every spring or summer, sometimes bi-yearly for the snow season. It holds many happy memories, like hiking to Sentinel Dome (wiki link) to visit Jeffrey Pine, which was a pine tree growing out of solid granite. Here's a picture of where it formerly stood:
We used to love driving through the HUGE Wawona Tunnel Tree. There are several pictures of us driving through each year til it fell from a heavy snow storm, like this one here, but in color:
The giant sequoia is estimated to have been 2,300 years old. It is now known as the Fallen Tunnel Tree.
And one of my favorites was when they threw fire logs of a cliff every night! It was better than a bedtime story and was called, Yosemite Firefall (wiki link for more info). We would sit around a camp fire with the Forest Ranger and sing songs. Here's a photo of the grand final of each evening!
Interesting, I just noticed that the three memories I chose off the top of my head are the ones that are no longer available at Yosemite. I wonder what that means. Anyways...
Saying Goodbye: We probably went on the tour of the Awhanee Hotel every year, but I don't remember choosing souvenirs from the gift shop until I was in my teens.
And this souvenir gift seems even more heart felt because I can only remember getting two souvenirs from the Awahnee and this is one of them. It was a pair, but one of my friends borrowed the other one and never returned it. I've been thinking of letting go of my 14k Zuni Sun God ring, which is the other souvenir from the Ahwahnee Gift Shop, but I can't do that yet, even though I can't wear it due to allergies.
One of my other childhood souvenirs is here.
What I Learned:
1. I have a lot of souvenirs and am used to getting one from almost everywhere I go! What an eye opening realization! My Dad and I have souvenir matchboxes from restaurants. I still pick up a rock and put it in my pocket from beaches and parks. If I go to somewhere special, I seek out something to keep as a memento. Even if it's a just a new ice-cream shop or opening of an art gallery!
I tend to save stickers worn to get into events, ticket stubs and parking tabs from them too! Yes, I have quite an extensive paper hoard that I do throw out periodically, but I wonder how much of it has survived through the years. They are in the bottom boxes of my stacks to the ceiling.
2. Souvenirs are a big thing in our family and we often loaded up on souvenir gifts to give to our friends and relatives when we returned home. I also saved rocks, dirt and sand from them too, however those are long gone, but I do have some of the shells. I kept them all categorized and labeled too in little glass tubes from my bead collection.
3. Maybe this item was so heart felt to let go because the memories in it are ones that can no longer be physically visited. My family visits Yosemite each autumn. As soon as we arrive at Camp Curry, my mom calls to make reservations for the next year! We all still hike to Yosemite Falls and sometimes there's snow!
Which souvenirs are your favorite and what memories do they hold for you?
Thank you Elizabeth for emailing your story with kind encouraging words and it makes me so happy we both love all things Native American and especially that you wear it often. I wore them often to keep my hair off my face!
I can't thank Etsy enough for all the connections, dehoarding and adventures I've had since opening three shops and am working on opening a fourth shop, JunkDrawerLoveEtsy! The dehoarding continues as I can see more light at the end of the tunnel now!
Thank you visitors from US, Canada, Switzerland, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, Italy and Mexico for joining me in my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things! via VintageToGoEtsy and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy!
Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily: HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things VintageToGoEtsy and JunkDrawerLoveEtsy! There are only a few items listed in JunkDrawerLoveEtsy and will be listing 2-3 new things there daily and 1-2 items at the other shops! Thanks for looking!
Note to self: proof read this, count up souvenirs, add related stories.
Most Read Story of the Week: "Say When" Jigger Shot Glass: The Destiny of Things, Story #106
Most Read Story of the Month and All Time: My Louis Vuitton Collection: my end and someone's beginnings
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