Friday First Memories | Leather and Love

It’s no secret that I have a deep love for the ocean and the sand.  Last time I wrote in this series, I spoke about how as far back as I can remember one of my very first memories, true memories was riding the waves on the nose of my mom or dad’s surfboards into the shore.

Both my parents surfed, both my parents were sponsored and both of them created a sense of freedom for me when I am out in the ocean!  We lived down at the beach and we were always down there no matter what the weather would bring us.  We were there in the winter, bundled up but in our bare feet enjoying the cold sand.  We were surfing in the summers (at 2 years old I was always in the safety of my parents arms or sitting on the nose of their boards.)  The ocean has always been my home away from home and that is why my own husband, although the mountains will always call his name, knows that I can never be too far away from the surf!

It’s also no secret that I have a deep love for leather! I wear leather cuffs that are big and thick.  I have a leather camera strap around my neck that my thoughtful husband searched for and gifted to me!  Almost all the holidays, you will find the go to gift will be something of a leather nature and there is a absolutely a reason for this!

You see, growing up… I can remember a time that my brother gifted me his own leather cuff that he made at summer camp… I think!  I actually can’t even remember the story to be honest, because that’s how little I was.  Maybe, my mom made it for my brother.. either way, it was a small brown cuff with ZAC carved into the leather.  I wore it for as long as I can remember.  I still had it until just a few years ago when my mom and I passed it on to my niece.

My mom created our love for leather… it all began with her!

My mom always had such wonderful leather pieces.  She had these incredible bags that she crafted herself.  They were ornate with delicate florals and patterns that she had engraved (I’m not even sure if that’s the word to describe it, but that sure is what it looked like!) herself.

She collected unique leather treasures from all her travels around the world: bags and bracelets of all kinds.  She had belts from Mexico and Europe that she has passed on to me that I still wear to this day.  These little bits of my mom and her incredible experiences and parts of her life that hold stories and adventures now live on to carry more stories and more adventures that I will hopefully pass down one day.

This is why I love leather so much!  It’s not just because it’s amazing…because let’s be honest, leather in my opinion is amazing as a fashion piece!  I absolutely get that from my mom!  She wears a lot of leather and I love that about her.

I love leather because it’s just classic.  I’m sure that’s not a word maybe that’s described leather a lot or some would want to choose to describe it!

To me, it’s a legacy piece.  It’s been a legacy piece in my life and in my family between mother and daughter especially!

Leather holds so much love!  It carries stories and traditions that have been passed down from one generation to the next and hopefully will continue to do so.

Leather gets better with age.  Leather gets better the more you put it to the test!  

The more wear and tear it goes through the softer it becomes!  

Leather can be unconditional in many ways and that is how I chose to see it and why I love it so much.

This is why I chose to use it in my business as a piece of my branding, my new branding that is set to reveal in October!

Leather represents love to me;  unconditional love!  The more time you put into it, the more you test it and wear it, the softer and more comfortable it becomes!

In so many ways this is just like marriage and just like family!  The more we support our family, the more we spend time with our families and pour into our families;  the more loved and strengthened our family becomes!  Our bonds become comfortable and known.  It becomes trusted and respected.

When passed on from generation to generation, legacy pieces carries our stories… and so our family memories will do the same!

To me… leather is love, just like family is love and a priced possession I want to cherish and pass down through all generations.

Do you have certain pieces like this in YOUR family?

Photo credit:  Elizabeth Friske Photography