Bookmarked Bits

amyofhearthridge

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An old Milwaukee Brewer’s ticket, a receipt for Goldfish crackers, and a yellowed photograph. Torn-edged Emily Dickinson poems, exotic postcards with black squiggly postmarks from long ago, and fluorescent hued post-it notes. Advertisements, crumpled bits of paper with phone numbers, and love letters. Thank you cards, a gallant knight hand drawn by my son. Bits of string, tags from a favorite store, shirt bought two sizes ago, and an old Valentine. Origami, playbills, and church bulletins folded accordion style. Bits of napkin, strips of paper bag, and special chocolate wrappers. Empty tea bag wrappers, coffee drink labels, and business cards. Strips of washi tape stuck together, ribbon, lace, and old empty envelopes. A friend’s obituary, a wedding invite, and pressed flowers. Metal book darts, watercolor flowers on card stock, and coffee stained cardboard. Fabric squares, old conference name tags, and retreat brochures. Cell phone case instructions, empty seed packets, and piano recital flyers.

Tangible memories of life in between the pages of my books.

~

27 thoughts on “Bookmarked Bits”

  1. Ha! I wondered where that was going. I use all sorts of odds and ends as bookmarks too. The book I’ve just put down has a combined ticket for the train from Barcelona and the teleferiques and funicular trains at Montserrat. I also have a couple of bookmarks that the kids have made for me, or bought. My list wouldn’t be as long or as disparate as this one though!

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    1. Yes! I sure have an odd assortment, but then I tend to dip in and out of some of my books for a long time, and I love to save these little memories. I love the train ticket one! I forgot that I have money that I use too! Especially from other countries! 😀

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  2. Funny story: back when Matt and I were first married, I sewed him his stocking. And then, because we were young and stupid and silly- I somehow convinced him to pose completely nude except for a strategically placed stocking while I snapped a picture. 14 years later and I like to think a whole lot wiser (though sometimes I am not so sure…), I stumbled upon said picture and laughed my eyes out. (And gawked a bit too- boy, was he handsome!). I wound up using it as a bookmark for the book I was currently reading because- well, I needed a bookmark! And when you need one, you need one! I finished the book and shelved it for a while (very dangerous mistake with children, btw. THAT could have been bad!) and then was talking to my friend about said book, gushing about it, and she asked if she could borrow it. I quickly got it down to hand to her and praise God, flipped through it seconds before handing it to her- only to discover THAT photograph!

    CAN YOU IMAGINE!?!?!? My friend would have been mortified. MY husband would have been mortified.

    I would have been mortified for three seconds and then I would have died laughing.

    (I have used almost every single one of your scraps for bookmarks too- right down to coffee stained cardboard and stuck together washi tape!)

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  4. One thing that struck me about this beautifully diverse and everyday list is its *quantity*! As I read, I wondered if you’re currently using all of these as bookmarks! 🙂 (That is, do you have all of these books on the go?)

    When I worked in a second-hand / antiquarian bookstore, we often found everyday bookmarks in the books we purchased, particularly plane tickets in paperbacks.

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    1. Some of these are left in the books I own (which is quite a lot, ha!) others I just have in a box or basket for later reads. I do have TONS of books going at all times. It’s just how I roll, others like poetry, I might simmer in for years. 🙂 That would be neat to see what the destination was on the plane tickets you found! 🙂 Any cool places that you remember? Thanks for chatting with me, Heather.

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  6. I used to do the same, now day, I cut the endless promotional stiff cards, I receive on the mail, on a guillotine, shape them as bookmarks, and use them in the many books I get as needed, cheap, easy, and an endless supply at hand, I even pick, and choose the most colorful. 🙂

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    1. Adrienne, I too, love finding things in books! My recent was I purchased two memoirs at different places by Christopher Milne, A.A. Milne’s son and inside someone had collected some newspaper clippings about him and they were in the book. I thought that was very neat.

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  11. I love this list of things you use as bookmarks. It sounds very similar to some of my favourite books. Whatever happened to be at hand when I took a break or wanted to make sure I
    could find that special place.
    Can become quite bulky books like that and difficult to lend to anyone.😊 .
    miriam

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