The Giving Keys

After recently finding an antique skeleton key amongst my parent's knick-knacks, I have become slightly obsessed with the intricately made keys from the good old days (this also around the time I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for the first time - a story of a boy whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across NYC for the lock it will open).
I've started collecting them, for no known purpose yet, other then to marvel at what may have been their history. I like to believe these are keys with a story. Keys that have been carried by one or many that have unlocked places we call home or trunks filled with keepsakes or forgotten doors. I like to think by holding on to these keys, I hold on to their memories...and maybe even keep the memories a live.

Then I found The Giving Keys. A pay it forward type of company. Love those. The Giving Keys exists to employ those transitioning out of homelessness to make jewelry out of repurposed keys that get sold and shared around the world. They are hand stamped with a one word message of hope. I've been wearing the key of "health" for my father...to remember just how delicate our health is, just how quickly disease can take over the body, and maybe in hopes that he holds on to what good health is left in him.
If you're on my Christmas list this year, you might just be getting a Giving Key. Create a little history of your own. Wear the key for as long as you need. When you encounter someone that needs the message on the key more then you do, give it away and keep it going. Share the love.

"Like old keys, we might feel used and discarded, but we all have the ability to unlock potential. Potential to transform our pain into stories of redemption."