White beads and scarlet stones,

diamante-detailed chokers and studded earrings;

'Get Well Soon' cards and birthday poetry,

stacks of albums and photos.

Like a motley pack of strays, outcasts, fine folk and noblemen.

True, every corner of my grandma's house has been yielded up to these little treasures.

Like an untended garden left to its own flowers and weeds.

But my grandma loved it anyway.

Every gem and every stone in her chests of drawers;

some were laid on chocolate trays,

some in coffee jars,

and others in old candy tins.

Every card and every poem my sister and I had given her on her birthdays lined the walls of her study;

some displayed on the dining-room table,

some kept in metal containers,

and others on narrow shelves.

My grandma once told me that these were her most prized possessions,

no matter how invaluable or unimportant they were to others.

Before she left this world for her eternal home in heaven,

she had given my sister and I each a present -

a present that could not be seen or touched;

a present that could only be felt with the heart.

It was love.......

The greatest gift we have ever received in all these years......

The most wonderful gift we could ever have for the rest of our lives -

Grandma's love for us.

She wanted us to know that there is nothing more valuable than love,

and that there is nothing more priceless than the treasure in heaven -

God's gift of everlasting life.

Grandma did give us some of her treasures, too -

brooches of all sorts, necklaces of all kinds;

A sequinned brooch,

a gold-enameled parrot brooch,

a butterfly brooch with wings that actually worked.

A heart-shaped locket,

a brass pendant,

a chain necklace.....

and many more!

These were all my grandma's treasures on Earth,

but the greatest treasure......

is in heaven.