WHY DO YOU LIKE AND COLLECT MATCHES?
Her name was Hedy and she was 82 when I met her 14 years ago. I was new to the neighborhood and didn’t know anyone. She would say that she was old and had lost everyone. Born into an aristocratic family in France, she was separated from her parents and sent to a convent. She joined the French Resistance during WWII and carved the Cross of Lorraine on her shin to identify herself during her dangerous nightly bike rides to distribute flyers. She changed bandages from the burned faces of British Naval Troops who had been bombed. Fluent in 4 languages, she served as an interpreter for the military during the occupation in Paris and helped distract the Germans so Molotov cocktails could be thrown at the tanks. When her village was bombed, she walked miles for help with her ankle bone split in two. After the war, she met an American soldier and married in Paris, at the famous L’ Église de la Madeleine, while wearing a wedding gown and veil made of parachute silk. She departed for the U.S. as a war bride on the last military ship leaving France in 1946. She became an American citizen, a beautician, and then a Polish interpreter for the local court system. When I met her, she liked driving her old tiny blue Ford Escort to the market and church and preferred stories only about her beloved family and their travels around the world. She collected matchbooks during her travels. One day, she packed them up and gave them all to me. This is what she said: “Travel as much as you can. Do it with urgency. See the world. Learn from it…and always keep something for yourself. I’ve collected these matchbooks during my travels around the world. You can have them so that you can add your own. When you are finished, pass them on. In the end, together, we will have seen the world.” A few years ago, she succumbed to Alzheimer’s and these memories suddenly no longer belonged to her, but instead to all of us. Those of us who knew and cherished her. In her memory, I continue adding to her collection.
WHEN AND HOW DO YOU LIKE TO ENJOY YOUR MATCHES?
I currently display most of my matchbooks in frames on a large wall in my dining room. When people come for dinner, it’s the first place they look. The rest are scattered throughout the house in little vignettes I’ve created with travel souvenirs. They’re great conversation starters.
