A step into the past…
Spring cleaning has started early for my husband’s parents who will be moving into a retirement home shortly. Every other weekend for the last month or so our Passat station wagon has come home with boyhood treasures, a pair of stilts, tools, hat rack, telescope, tons of record albums and a few vintage items that would be a Steampunk artist’s goldmine! Pocket watches, eye glasses, real working skeleton keys and a true vintage 1908 Remington typewriter. PauI’s grandfather had owned and operated a general store in a small South Carolina town and most of the “antiques” were from his store. The mercantile had been in existence so long that he talked about deliveries being made in a horse drawn cart. My main interest in these old items was the typewriter. Knowing that the keys were a valuable jewelry component I had planned to take the keys off of it. I had envisioned an old and ugly piece of broken machinery that no one knew what to do with but didn’t have heart to throw away. Little did I know what a true treasure that this metal keyed piece of history would deliver.
Click, click, click, ding came from the garage. My youngest, the computer whiz kid, was pecking away at this ancient typewriter. “Mom, this is so COOL, it even dings when you get to the end of the paper!” So much for my visions of altered art jewels. Later that afternoon Sarah proudly announced that she had typed me a letter and wanted me to read it. “Dear Mom, Your Etsy shop is really awesome. I hope that you get super famous all over the world really soon. Even if you don’t you are still really totally awesome at what you do. I love you soooo much. You are the coolest mom in the whole entire universe. Your loving daughter, Sarah.” Needless to say the typewriter will stay, in tact, and has found a prominent place amongst the other treasures in this families past and present.
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I cleaned out my childhood home three years ago. My parents are both gone now. It was an emotional week. I love your typewriter story. Such a treasure, and it blessed me to read about the next generation thinking it was cool…and trying it out. I suspect Sarah will find a lot to write about on that “cool” machine.
Sweet story. (Saw your tweet on Twitter and found my way here.) Thanks!
I have my great grandfather’s typewriter in my studio. He was a decorator and paper hanger in Philadelphia in the late 1800’s to 1900’s. I could never tear it apart because I think of him sitting there typing his bills on it, then my grandmother using it to do the billing for her husband who took over the business. My mother got it next, she used to type our high school papers on it and now I have it. My daughter wants it for her house and she’ll get it, I’m just not quite ready to give it up yet. I even have a box of spare ribbons so it can still go. NOW, think about how many computers I’ve been through since 1984 when I got my first one! and this one is in it’s 4th generation and still bangs along as well as ever! Makes you think.