topic Things I've kept for sentimental value in Community Chat

Things I've kept for sentimental value

151949 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 16:56:08 GMT

I find that the things I love that previously belonged to my parents and grandparents are not the valuable things as much as the things that they used every day in their lives and when I look at that object I can see that person in my memory with that object in their hand, because I actually did see it thousands of times when they were still with me.

For instance I have a wooden handle big cooking fork that my Mom would use when ever she made spaghetti to stir the pasta so it did not stick together. Every time I use it for the same job I can see her doing it in my mind. I have my Dad's hammer & pliers in a drawer in my kitchen - and my DH still uses some of my grandpas tools. They have grandpa's name etched in them as he used them at work - it makes me feel warm & cozy to hold them and look at them. I still have my first husband's tool boxes which I keep absolutely spotless - though my current DH has them a mess inside - my first husband was very compulsive about keeping them neat and spotless so I at least keep the outsides as he had them. It makes me feel warm and close to them to hold on to something I can remember seeing them use.,so those items are much more valuable to me than other things.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

kdgn — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:04:49 GMT

I understand. I have my grandma's flour sifter. I have used it only once but every time I look at it the memories are there. I have my mom's cookbook that I remember her using. I use it still. It's almost as old as I am.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

151949 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:32:50 GMT

On 7/28/2014 kdgn said:
I understand. I have my grandma's flour sifter. I have used it only once but every time I look at it the memories are there. I have my mom's cookbook that I remember her using. I use it still. It's almost as old as I am.

When i got married my grandmother gave me a cookbook that her grandmother had given to her when she got married. It is, without a doubt, the best source of information ! It is so much more than just recipes - all kinds of information about how to cook things and menus and how to do things for a party and how to set formal and informal tables. I have used it so much it is , literally, falling apart. But then it is 94 years old.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

Mominohio — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:23:07 GMT

I feel exactly the same way. I was recently gifted a broken rolling pin that belonged to my great grandmother. My great aunt (who gave it to me) said it was the only one she ever saw her mother use, and she has no idea how it got broken. I have yet to use it, but I will, and I think of them both every time I see it. I have some hand made quilts (just beautiful) and afghans that my grandmother made, and I love to use them, look at the fine stitching, and remember seeing her create such wonderful things.

We aren't supposed to be attached to "things", and I'm not attached to expensive things, but the everyday things that have come down from those I love, I am very attached to.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

RainCityGirl — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:29:18 GMT

I have kept many things because of sentimental value, most of which are on display somewhere in my house. There is one item, though, that just hangs in a closet and gets taken out once in a while when I need to reconnect. It's the maroon jacket my father wore every Christmas day. I can't bring myself to give it away. Sometimes I just like to take it out and give it a hug as I picture my dear father wearing it.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

Lucky Charm — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:38:38 GMT

I have spoons that are worn down on one side from hitting the side of mixing bowls. I have the striped mixing bowls too. They were my great grandmothers. I don't use them.

I have a simple wooden desk that was the only Christmas present my grandmother and her two sisters received during World War I. I keep my stationary and ribbons and bows for gift wrapping in it.

I have a Tiffany dinner ring a client gave my great aunt as a gift when she retired from the beauty salon at the Ritz Carlton. I rarely wear it, but someone always notices it and I love telling them about my beautiful aunt and her life on this earth.

I talk about her and her sisters almost every day in some way. I miss them still all these years later.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

hckynut — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:42:01 GMT

Most of what my mother left that was of any dollar value went to my 3 older sisters and that was by agreement with all 4 of us. What I kept was only a couple things she used to wear regularly and that to me has more value than any amount of $$$$.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

ROMARY — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:34:21 GMT

I sometimes wear (around the house) a couple of my mom's sweaters. Very comforting.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

151949 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:39:06 GMT

I have kept some of my Grandmas aprons too - they are all very worn thin but I can almost see her wearing them making fantastic meals in her tiny kitchen.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

Azcowgirl — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:54:04 GMT

I wear my Daddy's silver ring that he always wore since his twenties when he travelled through Europe.I keep a picture of he and I on my phone as wallpaper, playing and laughing ...when I was two.......I adore that picture (:

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

SeaGal — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 22:02:41 GMT

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

deepwaterdotter — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 22:31:06 GMT

My mother's and my MIL's coffee cups are displayed on hooks in my kitchen. A handwritten letter from my mother on my 40th birthday in a frame on my dresser.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

AuntG — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 00:01:30 GMT

There are things I keep just for the sentimental value. Some jewelry that belonged to my parents come to mind.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

blackhole99 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 05:31:36 GMT

I have a lot of my mother in laws things simply because she had a lot of things. Most of the things are useful, but some are sentimental, some are valuable, I tell my husband his mother and I are better girl friends now that she's gone. I wasn't her cup of tea!

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

seehorse — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:15:01 GMT

I know this seems crazy, but one thing I will always keep is this small cake made for my baby shower. This has been in my freezer and my DD is 32! It still looks good (not edible of course). The maker, a dear lady, must have been clairvoyant, since she put a pink sweater on the baby.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

seehorse — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:42:41 GMT

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

misspammie — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:35:06 GMT

happy hw (seem to be running into you lately),,,I have many 'sentimental' things around and on the walls etc. a few days ago there was a thread on 'do you have 'whimsey' things around'. Yes,,but to me they're all extremely personal and so I don't give a hoot what others think of them on display on my home. They all mean a lot to me and that's how it is. When I was a really young woman, people would ask for my decorating 'prowess'?? and I'd just say,,,use what YOU like and what means something to you. I'm no decorator by any means, but my home is comfy,,,,,and seems to be comfy for all.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

beckyb1012 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:52:40 GMT

Still have my 31 year old son's baby teeth in a special case, and hair from his first hair cut.

Also, my Mom was given back in 1961 and again in 1966 hand painted angels with my name and my sister's name after we were born. Mom gave them both to me after my little sister passed (42 years old) back in '09 and Mom passed 14 months ago. Very special and sentimental to me.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

masque — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:58:58 GMT

I treasure a New Testament that belonged to my father. He wrote on many of the pages.

He's been "absent from the body, but present with the Lord" for many years.

Re: Things I've kept for sentimental value

Retreaded — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 00:46:29 GMT

My Dad was a natty dresser. He loved clothes. Dad's been gone over twenty years but I still have his bow ties and his set of silver and pink Bakelite cuff links. Yes, I was Daddy's girl (one of nine!).