I remember Grandma Patrick’s kitchen in her apartment. I remember the old-fashioned sink. I remember the sewing machine near the window. I remember the table with the gray-patterned cotton tablecloth. I remember her napkin holder that sat on the tablecloth on the table.

After my grandmother died I took a few things to remember her by. I took her aluminium stovetop coffee percolator, I took that gray-patterned cotton tablecloth and I took her napkin holder. Years later, after my mother died, I took the sewing machine too.

Most of these things created some points of contention between Dean and me, but the one that is still on-going is the napkin holder. It’s pure mid-century modern with its starburst pattern on one side (there was one on the other, but it fell off and according to Dean could not be soldered back on). I’d love to have it sit on the kitchen table holding our napkins — and it did for a while until I quit using paper napkins.

I’ve tried other uses for it. I hooked it on a nail in my office wall to hold cables. I used it to hold small notebooks on my desk. Both of those uses were short-lived because the napkin holder is just too light. It’s meant to hold paper napkins on a kitchen table.

I don’t know what to do with it other than put it in the kneewall with my other memories, but I feel that it can be used for something!