I prowl the bulk food aisle at the grocery store, scooping my daughter\u2019s favorite dried organic mango and granola into plastic bags. Ally\u2019s about to leave for college, and I\u2019m in charge of provisions. Scanning the shelves for the chai tea she loves, I find myself thinking of the King Tut show that came through town a few years ago.<\/p>\n

At the exhibit, case after case contained wondrous artifacts that kept the Boy King company on his journey to the afterlife: a whimsical child\u2019s chair; a model boat fashioned from papyrus; clay vessels for his favorite food and wine; an inlaid board game to while away the eternal hours.<\/p>\n

I imagined Tut\u2019s grieving courtiers and family members busying themselves by accumulating the little treasures of everyday life. What did he prefer to eat?\u00a0 Remember how he crowed triumphantly every time he won this game! Don\u2019t forget his boat, complete with oarsmen to help him cross over. This little clay animal will remind him of the pets and people who still love him when he is lonely in his journey to the afterlife.<\/p>\n

My daughter, still very much alive, is simply starting college. But I feel a kinship with the ancient Egyptians as I place the mango and chai into the box next to the toothpaste and family photos I have been stockpiling for Ally\u2019s send-off.\u00a0 After all, she\u2019ll need to be prepared for the new life that awaits her far from home.\u00a0 Who knows if they have proper provisions in the world beyond known as college?<\/p>\n

I add Scrabble and a deck of cards to the cache of treasures. When Ally\u2019s homesick, they\u2019ll help her conjure up nights of laughter with those who love and miss her. For good measure, I tuck in her old stuffed dog, whose soft pink plush Ally long ago caressed into a colorless, misshapen bundle. The mundane accoutrements of home will provide succor for the uncharted passage ahead.<\/p>\n

We moderns marvel at the golden funeral masks and ornately painted sarcophagi unearthed from the royal tombs. Yet it is the relics of domesticity used in the ritual of farewell that captivate us. Several millennia span the time between King Tut and today. But the impulse is timeless to send along a bit of home, a bit of ourselves, in the hard task of saying goodbye.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

What tokens of home help you or a loved one\u00a0when far away?<\/em><\/p>\n

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