Butterdishes and Childhood Prayers

Blackbird's Show and Tell is butterdishes. My butterdish is actually a crock. More specifically it is a butterbell. It is about 4 inches tall and holds 1 stick of butter. I found this crock in an old shop after I moved from Georgia to Virginia. It is used every single day because one of our favorite food items on the table at every meal is bread and butter. Not margerine. Butter. There is more than appearance to this little crock. It is also more than just a dish in the refrigerator to store butter. This crock has its beginnings in the days when there was no refrigeration. This piece of earthenware allows butter to be stored at room temperature on the counter for about a month without spoiling or need for refrigerating. How can this be? Surely as butter is a dairy product it will spoil without being stored in a cold place. The secret is in the seal. How it works is by using water to make an air tight seal. The butter remains fresh, creamy and most importantly, spreadable. My butterbell is old. It is chipped. It is cracked. This does not take away from it. I think it adds charm. If something should happen to this dish I will replace it. If I can't find an old farmhouse crock I will buy a new one. I like it that much. BTW, I paid $1 for it. ******* Yesterday I had a lovely surprise when I stepped out my back door. The UPS guy and the mail carrier had delivered packages to my door. One was the baby's birth announcements and the other was a tidy brown box with "fra-gee-lay" stickers on it. The box had no card. It also had no return address lable on it that I could find. But I had a heads up and knew who it was from. In the box was this lovely bedtime prayer for children in a distressed frame in green very similar to the color I painted the babies room. How lovely, I thought. Mary had emailed me that she sent a gift and forgot to put the card in and so mailed it separately. I was thinking Mary was so very thoughtful to remember the color of the nursery and to send something that coordinated. And I loved the distressed look of the frame. I was planning to email her and ask if the frame was handmade as a craft project. As I stood at the table and opened the rest of the mail, I came across a card that was from Mary. It and the box arrived by different means but at the same time. As I read the card the story of the framed prayer was revealed, making it all the more special. I didn't ask Mary if she minded that I post the card (I hope she doesn't) but I think the thought and the sentiments contained are lovely and loving. In my babies nursery is a piece of Mary, her girls and her mother. How can a baby not be anything but happy in a room surrounded with items that were heartfelt and sent with kindness and goodness from beautiful hearts? He. Can't. Thank you, Mary. I do love the gift. It also reminds me of my childhood. This prayer, or one very similar, a variation, is the first prayer I learned aside from saying the blessing at our table. I said it every single night of my childhood and just before I sleep now, even though I say my grownup prayers, I still say my childhood prayer as well. Now I lay me down to sleep I prayer the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. Those words are very important to me. I have taught them to my children and will teach them to my baby boy. Life doesn't get much better than the one I am living right this very minute.