Day 26: What means the most

So, I've been thinking about this for a long time. And I can't come up with an answer.  There are so many things that mean a lot to me, but I'm an Army Wife...it's hard to get attached to things because they get taken away from you so quickly and easily.

You meet great friends and then they move. You get a great town or house to live in, and then you move. You have your husband home, and then he leaves.

I have so many things around the house that I love - like this picture that my friend Kathryn gave me when Jeremy and I got married.  It's a print by a New Zealand artist, Gordon Walters called Kahukura.

Now, the actual print is not what is meaningful, but it's the letter that Kathryn wrote to go with it. So, I hope she doesn't mind, but I actually want to share with you some of what she shared with me. 

"The picture is made up of a representation of the Koru (A spiral drawn from the unravelling of the fern frond, which symbolizes new life in Maori culture, but also prevails in cultures worldwide)....Walters drew inspiration from kowhaiwhai patterns. These patterns, which represent the ancestors, are painted in white, black and red on the rafters of the wharenui, or Maori meeting house. The depict the whanau or family of the tribe.....Walters plays with the ambiguities of figure-groud relationships in his work; neither black or white dominates exclusively, and neither can they be seen without the other.....Your marriage is the fusion of two people, two families, and two nationalities, to create one more extensive family. I hope you two compliment each other like the figure and the ground in Walter's work..."

So it's not so much the print, but the letter and explanation that means a lot.  And it sits above our headboard and a daily reminder of its meaning.

Which reminds me.  There's one more thing that means a lot to me, apart from my family.  I always wear it around my neck, and I feel disconnected and naked without it.

The Twist pendant means 'Eternity'. The twist comes in many forms symbolizing many roads crossed during life. Strength and bonding of family or friends can also be linked to the twist.

I often feel upset that I'm losing so much of my Kiwiness.  I have a couple of friends out here in Fayetteville who are from New Zealand and they still have their accents.  Apart from a few words, I don't.  I have forgotten about my slang, and the way of life growing up.  I go home and I stick out rather than blending in. And it's hard.  So I have my silver fern tattoo on my inner right wrist, so when my hand is over my heart, my heart is always home.  And I have my greenstone pendant that will always bring me home.

So I may move, my family may be separated, my friends may be oceans away, but these items are always with me to make sure my heart is at the right place.