My "Priceless" list- with apologies to MasterCard

Watching those MasterCard commercials that look at the costs of some things and then describe the ultimate result as "Priceless" I was prompted to think of the things, besides obviously my family, that are priceless to me... So,here they are...in no particular order.

1. The book of Valentine poems I've written for my husband over the past 34 years that chronicle all the ups and downs of my married life.
2. All of the incredible amount of details that I've managed to collect on the family geneaology over the past 30 years that are kept in the antique steamer trunk. It has been a labor of love and I can only hope I will live long enough to write a narrative that puts it together into something readable.
3. My occasional opportunities to sit and watch the nature going about their everyday existence in my back yard. It is soothing and puts all the problems in my world into perspective.
4. Seeing the look of surprise on children's (and sometimes adults!) faces when I show them the goodies baking inside the Dutch oven on the hearth at Smith Plantation.
5. The predictable patterns of life that reassure me such as the daily phone calls when I'm driving home from my husband, setting the holiday table at my mother and dad's house where the china and crystal are like old friends, the chimney swifts whose nestlings in my chimney every year drown out my favorite t.v. shows, and the Christmas ornaments I unwrap that evoke memories of family vacations and momentous events. There are so many that glue together the fabric of my life.

Sometimes someone will ask,"If the house catches on fire, what would be the one thing, besides your family, that you would save?" Well, maybe the Valentine book, everything else is already with me.