Buttons

In the bottom drawer of my mother's dresser, she kept all her sewing supplies----thread, scissors, thimbles, pins and those wonderful "zig-zaggedy" pinking shears. But the best thing in the whole drawer was her box of buttons. On special days, she would get that box out and let me play with its contents. It was a round box that once held a special container of body powder, but for me it housed the most wonderful assortment of colors and shapes. I would spend hours playing with those buttons--letting them pour through my fingers, carefully examining them and then sorting them into endless piles.

I passed on that love of buttons to my youngest daughter. When she was young, I made her a special button box of her own for Christmas one year and filled it with some of the favorites from my collection. Callie would spend hours sorting the buttons in her box and would save her allowance to buy more from the sale bin at our local Hancock's store.

My weakness for buttons has become a bit more refined over the years, but the fascination is still there. I inherited my grandmother's button collection and several friends have passed on the sewing boxes of their relatives, so I particularly enjoy the antique or unusual. I can spend a ridiculous amount of time poring over the buttons on display at my favorite flea market, but since my friends don't necessarily share that same passion, I try to make my visits to that booth brief. With another trip to Canton coming up in about a week, I can't wait to see what new treasures await me!