Meterke

One of the fondest memories I have of my father's mother, whom everyone called Meterke, "little godmother", for reasons I am still not sure of, is her large cookie tin full of buttons. She and my father's two older sisters were seamstresses and my Meterke made some beautiful dresses for my sisters and I. The two dresses that stand out in my memory were a pair of jumpers in a very soft red and dark blue corduroy with very smart short sleeved lace blouses. I loved those dresses. My Meterke also made my first Communion dress and veil, out of a beautiful French eyelet lace, with pink satin ribbons and a matching little handbag. I was so proud. She also made the most elegant clothes for my sisters and my dolls.I had a doll I adored, called Isabelle, and she had gorgeous long black hair, which I combed every day. I kept her little white shoes sparkling clean. Meterke made Isabelle a red coat, with a mandarin collar in black velvet trim, that matched the trimmed cuffs of the coat's sleeves. Where she found the tiny glass buttons for the coat I never knew, but I was thrilled. Meterke had a lot of patience with her grandchildren, took their concerns and ideas seriously, and she was great to play boardgames with.She was also a very upright person. My youngest sister who at the time was no more than five, loved to cheat at card games,and Meterke tried very earnestly to change Ludwina's penchant towards this particular delight in mischief, but to no avail. So, she just chuckled and let it go. It was fun to go to her apartment in Oostende, by the seaside, in Belgium, as there was the irresistible attraction of the big box with what must have been hundreds of buttons. Buttons large and tiny, shiny, wooden, mother of pearl, glass, ceramic, satin, lace, bright red, gold colored, black, silver, and Meterke allowed us to dump them all out on her sewing table. They made the most lovely rustling sound, like water running over large boulders, it was such a delight to run your fingers over them, as were they keys to a very bizarre musical instrument. I also remember her helping me buy a lovely piggy bank piggy in ceramic, that cost two dollars at the time. I was about eight, but I had only brought one dollar in my little coin purse, so Meterke paid the difference, because she could tell I just fell in love with that piggy bank. I still see it before me. It was a girl piggy, with flowers in her hair, a big smile, and big eyelashes of which I was always fond of. I made sure my little sisters did not have a chance to cut doll Isabelle's eyelashes or hair, as they liked to do with the less alert dolls. Meterke died in 1976 of breastcancer, about six months after I left for the US. I missed her funeral, so she stayed alive in my mind, as I never saw her dead. All these years later, I still think of her fondly, and every time I see someone wearing a sweater or dress or coat with unusual buttons, I remember the fun times my sisters and I had with her big box of buttons, and how beautiful my doll Isabelle looked in the coat Meterke made for her.