Welcome to My Treasure Chest

The stories my trinkets tell

Tallulah Bacon

I have always been the sentimental type, the kind of person who believes objects hold memories and emotions. My friends always laugh when I show them my trinkets because I keep them in what I refer to as my “witch box.” It is a tiny wooden chest that sits on my bookshelf, full of items treasured by nobody else but me.

The first item I added to my treasure chest was a small glass pebble with a picture of a ladybug on top and the word “Luck” on the bottom. My high school best friend and I traveled to New York City for college auditions, and she showed me her favorite metaphysical shop. The two of us reached into a jar of tokens, and this was the one I pulled out. I still carry it in my pocket on days I need extra luck. 

The next treasures I added to my collection were seashells. Over the years, I’ve added seashells from every coast I’ve visited, but the first were from when I finally met my internet friend in Texas. I walked into the ocean for the first time in my life with her, and now we’ve been best friends for ten years. 

Perhaps the strangest treasures I still collect are cat whiskers. I have dozens of whiskers from my own two cats, as well as cats I have lived with. There’s no special purpose or plan for them; they are just small tokens of the love I have for companions I only get to share my life with for a short while.

However small and mundane these items may seem, they have acted as anchors for these precious, fleeting memories. I urge you to find the little pieces of magic in your life, hold them close, and carry them with you.