topic Re: Going through old momentos in Community Chat

Going through old momentos

Shorty2U — Wed, 03 May 2017 03:23:52 GMT

Does anyone else enjoy doing this? I am trying to stay offline as much and do little things around the house. (because I realize i spend too much time on here and Im trying to keep busy since I changed my eating habits to lose weight).

I have been going through my thousands of pictures (you know real pictures not digital) and other mementos I saved.

I am organizing everything (and trashing some things) and going to give some of the pics away (see below)

This was my best find. I have looked high and low for my grandfathers pocket watch for years! (my dads dads) to give my son. I thought it was long gone. Here it was in with all my pictures! I was so excited I cried when I found it today and immediately told my son.

This is the topper. It hadn't worked, and I was going to have it repaired if I found it. Today I wound it and it starting ticking and its sitting here w me right now keeping time! I usually don't believe in this stuff, but i had chills come over me thinking my dad (who had the watch before he died), just made this watch work again for my son! (They were very close).

And..I cant get over this, I found my ticket stubs from a Hall and Oates concert in 1988 and each ticket was only 15 dollars!. Last years Hall and Oates tickets added to approximately 200 dollars for 2 tickets! lol. I have seen them 2X in the 70s, 1X in the 80s and 2X in the 2,000s. (I don't have my 70's tickets though).

Besides saving older concert tickets (before i met my current/2nd husband,) I saved every concert ticket me and my husband went to since we met in 1999. I also saved the theatre shows we saw (as in plays type theatre) and I saved all of our movie ticket stubs (which is a lot).

I am going through all these mementos and pics so I can give my kids their childhood picture's (school and others, I made each a photo album also). I am also going to give some of my cousins pictures I have of their parents, and give pictures to my brother too. Because i am tired of storing stuff.

Also, I'm going to make photo albums of my entire life (of real pics, the digital ones are on CD roms), since i have pics since my parents met on up until everything became digital. And that includes pictures of most of my family members (even extended family) and friends, vacations etc.

(I bet my whole life will take up 4 or 5 photo albums and I will still have pictures left..lol)

My husband has been enjoying looking at everything also, because he does ancestry on line. So he is scanning the real old pictures, (like of my grandparents/great grandparent), and documenting them on line.

Anyway its been interesting going through things and it has been happy with memories, but its been sad also. Because my grandparents and parents are gone, all my aunts and uncles are gone now, and 2 of my cousins died (young).

I am almost finished going through and organizing and then I will make photo albums of my life. And on Mothers Day (I will give my kids their pictures, which they know about and cant wait to get).

Re: Going through old momentos

Lindsays Grandma — Wed, 03 May 2017 05:53:44 GMT

Shorty2U...Good for you. This sounds like a labor of love and I honestly believe your Dad got that old watch ticking. When I read that line in your thread it brought tears to my eyes. Your family will love what you are doing for them. Let us know how it goes.

@Shorty2U wrote:
Does anyone else enjoy doing this? I am trying to stay offline as much and do little things around the house. (because I realize i spend too much time on here and Im trying to keep busy since I changed my eating habits to lose weight).

I have been going through my thousands of pictures (you know real pictures not digital) and other mementos I saved.

I am organizing everything (and trashing some things) and going to give some of the pics away (see below)

This was my best find. I have looked high and low for my grandfathers pocket watch for years! (my dads dads) to give my son. I thought it was long gone. Here it was in with all my pictures! I was so excited I cried when I found it today and immediately told my son.

This is the topper. It hadn't worked, and I was going to have it repaired if I found it. Today I wound it and it starting ticking and its sitting here w me right now keeping time! I usually don't believe in this stuff, but i had chills come over me thinking my dad (who had the watch before he died), just made this watch work again for my son! (They were very close).

And..I cant get over this, I found my ticket stubs from a Hall and Oates concert in 1988 and each ticket was only 15 dollars!. Last years Hall and Oates tickets added to approximately 200 dollars for 2 tickets! lol. I have seen them 2X in the 70s, 1X in the 80s and 2X in the 2,000s. (I don't have my 70's tickets though).

Besides saving older concert tickets (before i met my current/2nd husband,) I saved every concert ticket me and my husband went to since we met in 1999. I also saved the theatre shows we saw (as in plays type theatre) and I saved all of our movie ticket stubs (which is a lot).

I am going through all these mementos and pics so I can give my kids their childhood picture's (school and others, I made each a photo album also). I am also going to give some of my cousins pictures I have of their parents, and give pictures to my brother too. Because i am tired of storing stuff.

Also, I'm going to make photo albums of my entire life (of real pics, the digital ones are on CD roms), since i have pics since my parents met on up until everything became digital. And that includes pictures of most of my family members (even extended family) and friends, vacations etc.

(I bet my whole life will take up 4 or 5 photo albums and I will still have pictures left..lol)

My husband has been enjoying looking at everything also, because he does ancestry on line. So he is scanning the real old pictures, (like of my grandparents/great grandparent), and documenting them on line.

Anyway its been interesting going through things and it has been happy with memories, but its been sad also. Because my grandparents and parents are gone, all my aunts and uncles are gone now, and 2 of my cousins died (young).

I am almost finished going through and organizing and then I will make photo albums of my life. And on Mothers Day (I will give my kids their pictures, which they know about and cant wait to get).

Re: Going through old momentos

deedledeedeedle — Wed, 03 May 2017 07:18:34 GMT

@Shorty2U,

Doing what you're working on is bittersweet, isn't it? I, too, choked up when you described finding the cherished pocket watch. We are fortunate to have the tangible evidence of a lifetime of experiences, but I guess there does come a time when we must edit our trove. I haven't gotten there yet as I'm not quite ready to open that proverbial box. With family gone there really isn't anyone to take my treasures, so the editing will be final. So, I procrastinate. Your children are going to be so grateful that you took the time to organize and collate your treasure trove.

dee

Re: Going through old momentos

qualitygal — Wed, 03 May 2017 08:54:55 GMT

May I suggest, also putting those pictures on a DVD. I know a family member of mine put their pictures on a DVD. In fact two of them did.

Came back to see if you do the shadow box of family treasures too? I think those are so precious. I've never tried one, but since I've seen some of those, I think they're great.

Re: Going through old momentos

AuntG — Wed, 03 May 2017 11:07:05 GMT

No doubt, those items are like a walk down memory lane.

Re: Going through old momentos

esmeraldagooch — Wed, 03 May 2017 15:31:04 GMT

We had a collection of old photos of my FIL and then were blessed to get a new collection with additional photos from a professional photographer who was along with him on his adventures. With his permission we were allowed to copy and give these family heirlooms to everyone in the family on discs which were created so the photos can be enlarged to poster size with no quality loss. I have blown up many and have them all though my home. My favorite is my FIL and Lassie from the 1960"s. This was not among the ones I need permission to show. He has a mountain, glacier, stream and airport named after him

Re: Going through old momentos

Shorty2U — Thu, 04 May 2017 03:54:39 GMT

Hi and thanks for the replies. I intend to scan some of the pictures before giving them to the kids. But I know they will probably do the same too. I didnt make shadow boxes but I have those frames that you can put many pics in and I have some of them displayed around our home (with family pics in the frames).

I love that picture with Lassie and your FIL. I used to watch Lassie and to this day that is my favorite kind of dog (along with a Sheltand Sheepdog that looks almost the same. I had a Shelty as a kid until she passed away when I was a teen)

Re: Going through old momentos

esmeraldagooch — Thu, 04 May 2017 12:06:03 GMT

@Shorty2U wrote:
Hi and thanks for the replies. I intend to scan some of the pictures before giving them to the kids. But I know they will probably do the same too. I didnt make shadow boxes but I have those frames that you can put many pics in and I have some of them displayed around our home (with family pics in the frames).

I love that picture with Lassie and your FIL. I used to watch Lassie and to this day that is my favorite kind of dog (along with a Sheltand Sheepdog that looks almost the same. I had a Shelty as a kid until she passed away when I was a teen)

Thanks, I couldn't believe it when we found these three photos in my MIL's trunk and DH told me the story of him being on tv.

Re: Going through old momentos

goldensrbest — Thu, 04 May 2017 12:10:17 GMT

Such a heart wrenching thing to do, the tears just fall.

Re: Going through old momentos

BabyYoda — Sat, 06 May 2017 03:11:09 GMT

That is wonderful you are going through photos and going to put them in albums and give some away. Nice you found the pocket watch and that it still works. It was meant to be.

Re: Going through old momentos

Financialgrl — Mon, 08 May 2017 11:44:14 GMT

Dad threw NOTHING out. When he died 4 years ago I did a cursory look at all the junk he'd collected. Two years ago I decided to move and began in earnest really tossing stuff out. Lots of stuff got tossed but among his junk were things I kept for our family's keepsakes - my grandfather and my father's honorable discharge papers, pics of my parent's marriage (they didn't have a wedding - went to a beautiful old church and married by the minister there - with two friends as witnesses), my dad's baptismal certificate, etc.

Lots of stuff found made me realize I wished I'd asked my father more about them while he was alive. It's great digging up old treasures you didn't remember you had or even know you ever had!