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I have a very old and very beat up pressed glass sugar bowl that my grandpa used to keep on the kitchen table full of his pocket change. Much scratched and chipped, although the chips are all worn smooth.
I kept this (and gave the cut glass crystal matching sugar bowl and creamer to my sister) bc I love it and think of him every time I use it.
Have a wooden centennial nickel that was my grandfather's and one of his plaid jackets.
Had my deceased uncle's shoes; resoled them once but became too worn out for a second time.
I've a pair of needle-nose pliers my late Uncle Eddie gave me about 50 years ago, and I'd bet they were 25+ years old even then. Every time I use them I think of him.
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My Dad also loved Swiss Army knives and built up quite a collection...he loved gadgety tools. Whenever family gathered for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, he delighting in whipping one out of his pocket at exactly the right moment to cut stubborn ribbon or tape. It was expected; his signature. Each new model to come out was a guaranteed hit for his Christmas gift. By the time he died there was quite a box full. What to do with them? Happily I had a brainstorm. Each relative attending his memorial dinner found a small wrapped gift next to their plate; a Swiss Army knife.
My Dad also loved Swiss Army knives and built up quite a collection...he loved gadgety tools. Whenever family gathered for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, he delighting in whipping one out of his pocket at exactly the right moment to cut stubborn ribbon or tape. It was expected; his signature. Each new model to come out was a guaranteed hit for his Christmas gift. By the time he died there was quite a box full. What to do with them? Happily I had a brainstorm. Each relative attending his memorial dinner found a small wrapped gift next to their plate; a Swiss Army knife.
What a nice idea! I should have thought of something like that for everyone who attended the luncheon after my husband's funeral, only it would have been screwdrivers in his case. I swear that man never walked through Sears or Ace Hardware without buying yet another screwdriver.
What a nice idea! I should have thought of something like that for everyone who attended the luncheon after my husband's funeral, only it would have been screwdrivers in his case. I swear that man never walked through Sears or Ace Hardware without buying yet another screwdriver.
Yep! So grateful that idea popped up in my brain. The table even did a bit of good-natured horse trading with them back and forth during the dinner. Relatives still comment that they are the quintessential reminder of my Dad around the holidays.
I have many things. Being the only child "baby of the baby" many things flowed in this direction.
Threads like these are such gems and give us a chance to know each other better. Thank you!
I get all sentimental about stuff like this and as a retired person feel a need to be downsizing but it's so very difficult for me to do because of all the meaning and memories connected with the items. And I've surrounded myself with them - a story around every corner in my house.
In my china cabinet I even have a small piece of the log cabin my grandmother lived in when she immigrated from Norway!
What I'd like to share tonight though is one of my many efforts to sort and discard. I was going through items from Mom's cedar chest and found a small white box. Wrapped in tissue paper inside was a perfect dried rose corsage and the program from her high school graduation.
I know how fiercely proud and grateful she was to be educated and what hardships in pursuit of a college education she had endured. Tears came to my eyes and it took every bit of resolution I could muster to gently lay that box in the garbage can with a whisper to Mom to forgive me.
Since then I haven't looked at another thing. Most are in the top story of our garage. I suppose I may have a heart attack when I look at her letters from Dad during his four years in WWII!
Tender feelings are a gift but they sure get in the way of organizing stuff before I shuffle off this mortal coil. My poor kids will toss (and toss and toss) without a second thought. LOL.
Yep! So grateful that idea popped up in my brain. The table even did a bit of good-natured horse trading with them back and forth during the dinner. Relatives still comment that they are the quintessential reminder of my Dad around the holidays.
Oh, too funny. DH's dad died with dementia. He was forgetful but his attention could become sharply focused on a single task.
Apparently he kept losing his screwdrivers also. The day he died in the hospital I went into their kitchen and there, lined up in perfect order, were screwdriver upon screwdriver. His last lucid act, finding all his screwdrivers?
He was from Holland and yellow was his favorite color. I wanted to have a bouquet of yellow tulips and screwdrivers made up for his funeral but sensible heads prevailed.
1: My moms Sweat jackets. too big for me but I wear em anyways!
2: An old rosary.
3: A german clock.
I often recall the movie "The Jerk" with Steve Martin. He is being kicked out of his own house and he randomly picks up items and says..."yeah and this too!"..(an ashtray, a lamp) ...Slowly realizing he is leaving with whatever he can grab.
Sometimes I think those above items that are in my home are the only things I really would leave with if I had to grab and go. A clock, a sweat jacket and a rosary.....What a sight that would be!
most of my sentimental items are all cards … xmas birthdays etc.
ive had some items thru the years I wished now I didn't throw away such as old toys...
my mother has given me stuff her mother had stitched/made my father has fiven me an old 1906 rifle his grandfather had …. these may be more family keepsakes...
I think my sister has much more of the items already mentioned in this thread.....much was passed down to her being the girl … from older grandmothers
the older I get the more oddly I think....things are in more dimensions not as neatly packed away.... I can be in a conversation even at work...and someone can say a phrse I use to hear from my grandmother and it would echo ...or perfumes... or even music takes me back.... the scent of burning leaves...scent of an xmas tree scent of a turkey cooking in the oven.....takes me back.. to many who have passed...
but I also believe we are all living legacies of those before us and our own actions or thoughts will remind us ….of someone years ago... and this right here is how we keep all those people before us....alive and well …
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