My family’s history and story is of great concern to, so much so that I intend to reconstruct the family tree as far as I can get in order to know who came before me.
In this same sense, I put a lot a value into objects that have reached through the generations. I have china, some furniture, personal items, photos and photo albums, etc.
Everything tells a piece of a story I wasn’t able to fully live through and instead just brushed me growing up.
It gives me a sense of belonging.
I kept a lot of stuff from my parents house after they passed. Most of it is still in boxes and I have yet to find the time to really go through it and take inventory.
Among those items there looks to be a lot of things that were kept in their own parents’ homes. China pieces, old collectibles…there is what looks to be a certified Catholic holy relic, which I haven’t the faintest idea what to do with. There is a pretty sizable collection of steins that I’ve kept out of pure sentiment, though I haven’t gone out of my way to set up a place to display them.
Thing is, most of this stuff I took from an outdoor storage shed where they just stuffed anything they didn’t have room for in the house. Had been sitting untouched for decades and was covered in dirt and mouse shit when I finally got to it. Spent a lot of time cleaning and trying to salvage what I could. So to that end I hesitate to call any of this stuff “heirlooms” when it seems to mostly be things they didn’t really value but couldn’t bring themselves to throw or give away.
I understand.