#MicroblogMondays: Meet Petunia!

Petunia. ❤

Meet Petunia! -- my childhood piggy bank. :)  

Petunia was actually my second piggy bank. My first one, sadly, was broken not long after I got it. The following Christmas (I think?), when I was about 6 or 7 years old (late 1960s), both my sister & I received identical new china piggy banks from Santa Claus. (Although -- did my sister's have blue hair while mine was pink?? Hmmm, must ask her next time we talk...) Mine sat on the top of my dresser until I left home, and eventually wound up in one of the dresser drawers. 

I've been thinking I should take her home for YEARS now, if I wanted to keep it (which I did). First I wanted to make sure that she really WAS mine (and not my sister's).  She assured me she had hers at her house. Second, I tried to remove the rubber plug on the bottom -- which was cracked, and now rattling around inside her tummy -- but after almost (gulp) 60 years (!), the rubber had turned hard as a rock! so it was impossible to remove (and I was afraid I'd break Petunia if I tried too hard). So I decided to just leave it in there. (Unfortunately, no money inside!  lol)  

I also procrastinated because I was a little leery about taking something so old & fragile in my suitcase -- she already had a few cracks in her -- so my sister's partner brought me some bubble wrap. I wrapped her in that, and then in a plastic bag (so that, in case she did break en route home, I wouldn't open my suitcase to find shards of broken china all over the place...!). Then I wrapped THAT up in a couple of soft sweaters and buried it in the depths of my suitcase.

Happily, she survived the trip!  and has now taken up residence in my china cabinet.  :)  She makes me smile every time I look at her. ❤ I know I can't keep EVERYTHING from my childhood, but this meant something to me, and I'm glad I still have it -- and have it here now.  

Did you have a piggy bank when you were growing up? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.