A Place to Gather What Matters
Journal Entry No. 1 — Meadow at Noon
I was a sentimental little girl. I see the same thing in my daughter now — the way anything and everything given to her carries so much weight, so much meaning. Especially when it comes from family, from friends, from the people who love her. I understand that completely, because I was exactly the same way.
Even now, at forty-three, I can still name and smell my favorite toys. I was a collector of dolls — dolls passed down to me through generations, and porcelain dolls my grandparents carried home from their travels to other countries. Above my bed hung a beautiful handmade wooden shelf, built by a great-aunt and uncle, and every collected treasure I owned lived there until the day I left for college.
As I grew up and had children of my own, that same instinct followed me. Each Christmas, one of their gifts is something from my childhood — a piece of my own story, wrapped up and handed to them.
My favorite memory of this tradition is the year I gave my son Izzy, a stuffed mascot I brought home from the 1998 Olympics. That same Christmas, my daughter received my favorite porcelain doll, the one my grandparents had carried back from Germany decades earlier. Every gift came with a handwritten note, telling my children the memory behind what they were holding. I won't pretend otherwise — I teared up watching them unwrap those gifts and reading the words I'd written for them.
That Christmas was in 2019, the same year my grandparents went to Heaven. We lost my mamaw that February, and my sweet papaw that December.
So much of the story of Meadow at Noon goes back to my roots. And so many of the pieces you'll find in our store are a quiet nod to who my husband and I are as individual people.
I think that's why I'm drawn to antiques — to the selecting and choosing of pieces that carry meaning and history within them. The recycled glass I love, the kind you'll see throughout the store, reminds me of the glasses we drank from as children. Plants are my husband's favorite thing in the world, and I feel calm the moment I'm surrounded by them. Journaling has always been my outlet — a place to get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper. And the jewelry... it just lives in me. I can't name a single piece I own that doesn't carry meaning.
Our home is filled with furniture passed down from both sides of my grandparents, and from my husband's grandparents too. One of my favorite pieces is a wooden lamp with a base made from golf clubs, handcrafted by his Great Uncle Jan, who loved the game more than almost anything.
If there is one promise I will keep when it comes to Meadow at Noon, it is this:
I want this place to be one of meaning.
A place filled with pieces that bring up feelings, or someone you love. Maybe it's a lamp that stirs a memory. A feeling. Something your best friend simply can't live without. Every single piece we choose to sell should be something that matters.
