What kind of things do you keep for sentimental reasons?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
Northeast PA. 3 miles from the Pocono race track
Everybody has things from their past, which have special meanings, and you hold on to them. I have a few. One is my Dad's pocket watch. And some bullets from the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg. And I have a large collection of souvenir shop coffee mugs from all the touristy places I've gone. I have them on shelves in the kitchen. I enjoy looking at them, and it brings back memories of tours, and trips.
What kind of things do you keep for sentimental reasons?
 

My comic book collection; my Nancy Drew collection; my British rock magazines from the sixties; some Beatles stuff that my mother didn't throw away; my records, LPs & 45s; OT in Hebrew & English that my grandma left me with her signature on each; the mezuzah she bought us in 1953 for our new apartment; and, last but not least, my Ramparts magazines from our Vietnam era.

I left my son's father-in-law in charge of my stuff because he has Respect, not like my son & daughter-in-law who intend to trash it.

I have much more stuff but they don't matter. I sound a bit like my pal deb!

eta--the history books, American & World, that I stole from elementary school.
 

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Nothing is thrown out. I still have my first driver's licence, and the pass certificate. All our photos from the 35mm film era, my school and university books and exam certificates, endless paraphenalia, including first analogue phone, and it's battery charger. I also have a bequeathed juke box that runs on valves, all my impulse purchase records and so much more.
 
I have all the 45's from my teen years in a singles case in the attic..

I have my DD's first baby teeth and her baby ID bracelet.. as well as all of every postcard or letter she sent me when she was small and had gone away on trips with the school.. all of her final year certificates, awards and degrees..

I also still have her first proper leather shoes,well worn from the time of course ...they're 43 years old now ,...
Don-shoes2-HD.jpg


My DD is a Bass guitarist and used to write her own music when she was a teen, I have all of those originals..

I have old money .. coins which are 100 years old or older..
 
hollydolly said:
I have all the 45's from my teen years in a singles case in the attic..

I have my DD's first baby teeth and her baby ID bracelet.. as well as all of every postcard or letter she sent me when she was small and had gone away on trips with the school..
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Now that's prompted a reminisce. Our love letters to each other are kept for posterity. It might have been infatuation in the early days, but love has long since replaced it. My sweetheart still gets the occasional handwritten love letter.
 
I have a box of cards and letters from my teens to the present. I should burn it so that it doesn't end up on a table at the local flea market after I'm gone.

I have a variety of small items that have been given to me or that belonged to the people in my life.

The rest are my personal collections and possessions. I've been paring and pruning those back to a few special items that will fit into one large bookcase. That process has been difficult but I'm getting there.

It's funny how we all look around our homes and see our personal history while the rest of the world looks around our homes and just sees our stuff.
 
I have my Mother's Japanese lacquered wood & silk comb from when she was young. Also, a music-box keychain that plays "Sakura" which Mom loved, that my good friend brought back as a souvenir when she traveled Asia.

As I'm sure many Mother's do, I have a container of my daughter's work from her school years, as well as
all her awards and ribbons from dance & gymnastics. Of course, there is the Baby Book with her first clipping of hair.

I was not one to hold onto my own things, other than high school year books. Photos of school friends, old boyfriends .. all tossed out, long ago.

edit: How could I forget the tartan hat my mother made me because I loved doing the Highland Fling .. also, the cotton cherry blossom yukata she made me when I was in the Obon street festival in Vancouver. I cherish those and also her ruby ring.
 
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Pictures and more pictures. Grandma had a 35mm camera and recorded everything. I have posted lots of them here over time. Every fall we had to sit through so many pictures of the leaves turning colors. It was always a joke when she got out
her slide camera.
I have my grandfather’s guitar I keep in the closet and also an old banjo clock.
I still have lots of 33 and a third and 45s records from when I was a lot younger.
 
hollydolly said:
I have all the 45's from my teen years in a singles case in the attic..

I have my DD's first baby teeth and her baby ID bracelet.. as well as all of every postcard or letter she sent me when she was small and had gone away on trips with the school.. all of her final year certificates, awards and degrees..

I also still have her first proper leather shoes,well worn from the time of course ...they're 43 years old now ,...
Don-shoes2-HD.jpg


My DD is a Bass guitarist and used to write her own music when she was a teen, I have all of those originals..

I have old money .. coins which are 100 years old or older..
Click to expand...
Those itty bitty shoes though.... priceless.
 
A music box my dad gave me when I was 3 years old. It plays the Blue Danube. I told my kids I want to be buried with it. Image the shock when it starts to play as they lower me into the grave. lol It has been known to play a few notes by itself when on the shelf. Probably the change in temperature.
Also my photo albums which mean everything to me.
 
When I remarried, I shredded all the correspondence between my late wife and myself. Nobody else would be interested in it.
However, I have a 6 foot high curio cabinet full of small souvenirs from all my travels. Such things as a Faberge egg replica from Russia, terracotta warriors from Xian in China, and a icon of St. Irene from Santorini, where my present wife and I were married.
 
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Lots of books, going back to ones obtained 60 yrs ago. Some gifts, some i bought with babysitting money.

A sort of cross between a bowl and plate, the bowl is shallow, has flat rim wide enough to rest bread or biscuits on...it came over from Hungary with my then 14 or 15 yr old Newlywed maternal Grandma when she and Grandpa immigrated. It had been her mother's, and has been passed down mother to daughter.

The compass from the last boat my father owned. He removed from helm and had it mounted in wooden box. Because some of my fondest early childhood memories are of being at sea with Dad, it means a great deal to me. Even wrote a poem about it once.

Photos of my parents as children that i have in frames prominently displayed in living room. They remind me that we all were children once shaped by the adults around us and our experiences, both our good qualities and our flaws. It makes it easier to let go the damage they may have done when you remember what shaped their character.

And hardcopies of photos, tho i have transferred a lot of them to discs and flash drives.
 
My parents never told me that somewhere in our family history was an American Indian tribe. I don't know what tribe but I do have a pipe & tomahawk that has been handed down.
I'm not curious so I haven't investigated the items. Maybe one of my sons will when they go thru our belongings when we croak.

Now that I think about it, those two items are the only old crap we have hung onto.
 
I think I finally threw them out (but not sure and they might turn up again in some box), but for the longest time I held onto a little basket that had a bunch of decorative hair clips (feathers, flowers, etc) and a set of I'd guess 3 inch squares of different knitting stitch patterns that I'd once taught myself from a book.
A couple days ago I made another attempt to go through the boxes of stuff my mother kept, and found letters I'd written to her when I was 19 years old. They were just plain embarrassing to read, kind of like the time I found a cassette tape my dad had kept that was a recording of my best friend and I talking when I was a teenager. Gee I sounded like such an idiot, I hope I don't still sound like that to people.
 
When my uncle went to war and thank God he came back, he brought me back, pajamas ...I still have them and I was 5 years old..
My uncle is not with us anymore, but I kept those pajamas and
I will give them to my daughter when I die....and my jewlery...
My husband has all of his old music when he was in a singing
group....Don't know who would want them when we die...
I have many beautiful jewlery from my Mom....I'm giving them
to my 2 granddaughters....I will start giving them this Christmas .....
 
My mother’s hope chest is here. If I moved, it would be sold.

What is left of her everyday dishes that she had to buy bit by bit. It’s a unique pattern. I don’t use it because it can’t be put in the dishwasher.

My grandmother’s wooden rocking chair and settee. I think my kids would take these except they’d have to be moved back east.

A few plates and extra pieces from my great grandmother.

A few random items from all of these women.

Bottom line, if I moved I’d suck it up and not much would come with me, no matter the quality or value.
 
I have my mothers' wedding ring. My mum was in a loveless violent marriage but I kept the ring because my father burnt all her belongings even tho' I begged him to let me have something, he refused.. however I got the ring..but I always felt it was bad luck because of all she went through..

After about 3o years , and my life wasn't doing great I felt I needed to get rid of that ring..it was bad luck..it had brought my mother horrible luck within her marriage .. so as it wasn't valuable, I threw it in the bin ( it was a big decision and not something I took lightly, but in the bin it went in the hope my luck would change)...

Fast forward another 10 years and about 2 years ago..I was in the attic and I came across a little suitcase..tiny little antique vanity case. which I hadn't opened since my DD was a baby . and inside was my DD's baby things, Baptism certificate, first teeth, my horseshoes and roses from my wedding cake from my first marriage to my dd's father .. a newspaper clipping about my late grandmother..and ... my mothers' wedding ring !! :oops::oops:...I swear to you, my mothers' wedding ring, the same ring I took such great care to throw out, was in a ring box inside the little vanity case in the loft :eek:

I was in total shock.. but this time I thought, it was meant to be here, and so it remains, up there in the case in the loft!!
 
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I have lots of junk, way too much to list.

I am in the process of giving away some of the more "valuable" stuff, like my grandfather's 1914 University of Georgia diploma, my father's service revolver, my great grandmother's rocking chair etc. I worry about that stuff ending up in an estate sale or at Goodwill if I don't place it with someone who might appreciate it.
 

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