Something Old

About 58 years ago my mother received a gift for her new baby to use.  It was a little bonnet made from a lacy handkerchief, sewn together with a few stitches and some ribbon.  Twenty-two years later, that baby - me, used the hanky bonnet as my something old when I got married.  Then I put the hanky away.

Three years later, almost 32 years ago now, when I was expecting my first child I received a little box with a bonnet made from a hanky along with this poem:

I’m just a little handkerchief
As square as square  can be
But with a  stitch or two
They made a bonnet out of me.

I’ll be worn from the hospital
Or on the christening day
And after that be folded
Then carefully put away.

When on that future wedding day
So we’ve always been told
The well dressed bride must always
Carry something that is old.

So what could be more fitting
Than to find little me
And with a few fine stitches snipped
A wedding hankie be.

And if perchance it’s a boy
Someday he’ll surely wed
And his bride can have the hankie
Once worn upon his head.

This I passed on to my future daughter-in-law at her bridal shower.