Friday, January 23, 2009

Hospital bracelets


I've decided to start a new collection - hospital bracelets! It seems that with middle-age and the accompanying medical tests and screenings comes a stack of these silly plastic bracelets that they put on you, I guess in case you can't remember who you are or what you're there for. Quite often they never look at them again and I just cut them off when I get home and stick them in the top drawer of my vanity. It seems to be a nice bunch now, so why not make them a "collection" and give them some prominence in my house? Like badges of honor that announce to all the world that I'm doing my part to support the local hospital!

I remember my mother showing me a little beaded bracelet that the hospital put on me when I was born. Apparently the custom then was to string cute little white and pink (or blue, as the case may be) beads with letters on them that said the last name of the new baby - and the date of birth. What a nice idea! And how much more delightful to keep as a memento than the ugly plastic ones that they put on my babies! Unfortunately I don't know what happened to that little bracelet. I haven't seen it in years and it didn't turn up when we cleaned my mother's house out after she died two years ago. I wish I had it. I could do a collage of hospital bracelets through the years, all with my birthday!

What have I come to anyway?

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