If there was one item that you wish you could have from a beloved passed relative, what would it be?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

Hubby and I were talking about this earlier. My grandmother had a bag of buttons that I played with as a kid. Dumped out the buttons on her bed and counted them and lined them up to count and put into rows, etc. Nothing of any value, but I can still see that button bag and what a joy it was to have it as a toy whenever I visited her. My grandfather had a pocket watch that I was allowed to touch but never play with. He said that I could play with it when I grew up. The day he died in the hospital with cancer, the watch was stolen out of his room. It wasn't gold or silver, but I've often wished I could have it.

I can see that button bag and that watch in my mind's eye, so many year's later.

I'm curious about the stories that other people have about precious things that have fallen to the wayside.

[Left Is Write]

1. The box of comic books that was kept under the guest bed at my gramma's house.

[wildhorses]

2. my granma made a ceramic doll that won the blue ribbon at the

fair...i wish i had it.

i did get the bedspread that she cross stitched so that is some comfort.

[AlCzervik]

3. my Nana's red and white dishes, they have a scene of a snowy new england

day on them, and when we were kids she always used them when we'd have dinner at her house nd i'd really love to have them. Nana did promise them to me but her shit head son decided he would take them, they aren't worth anything monetarily but they are priceless to me, Nana thinks he took them just to be a dick, i concur.

[grasswire]

9. is this the pattern?

[AlCzervik]

10. thats the general idea, very close but no school house.

[grasswire]

11. buildings?

[AlCzervik]

12. no buildings that i can recall, i think it's Willow ware?

i don't know much about stuff like that other than the stuff i own.

[SeattleGirl]

4. The quilt my father made.

Sounds kind of funny, I know, but he did make a quilt when he was young. Unfortunately, it burnt up in a house fire.

[Bullwinkle925]

5. Other than one more day with my loved ones ....

I would like to have my step-father's WWII Purple Heart. Unfortunately, his son sold it to buy his fiance's engagement ring. If I had known he was going to sell it - I would definitely have bought it.

[Nicole]

6. My mother's cookbook.

That cookbook began as her mother's cookbook. When she got it from my grandmother it was a regular, printed cookbook.
She took it apart & put all the pages in a 3 ring binder. She included a bunch of blank pages so she could add her own recipes. All her recipes were hand printed. There were notes in the margins like "Uncle Bill's favorite cake" & "Don't serve this when Sarah is here".

I wish I had it.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

13. What a great idea...

too bad I don't cook. Maybe I can make a binder with take out menus. :)

[Rhythm]

7. My dad's "King of Hearts" necklace...

My mom and i bought it for him for Father's Day, when i was about 10 (i used my paper-route money to pay for half). It was a 14k gold chain, with a "king of hearts" playing card cut-out... the charm itself was about 1 1/2" long x 1" wide, also gold.

He wore it all the time (took it off only to clean it), and was wearing it when he died.
At some point between when he died, and when he was actually buried (3 days), my younger brother ended up with it. I don't begrudge my brother having it... i just wish that it was in my possession instead.

[opiate69]

8. My uncle's early 70s Gibson Les Paul. Luckily, my dad has it now so I should be getting it.

[RetroLounge]

26. Damn. That is a nice hand-me-down...

:hi:

RL

[opiate69]

30. No doubt..

Still kinda shaking my head about how I had to persuade my father to buy it from my Uncle's widow though.. "Dad, we don't really have any family heirlooms, but this guitar is most definitely one.. DON'T LET IT LEAVE THE FAMILY!"

[trof]

14. Great Aunt Suzy's hand cranked Victrola.

Nutty old lady gave it to the Salvation Army.

[Saphire]

15. I chose my Granny's cookbook and apron, my dad's watch and hearing

aid and a quilt my mom, granny and aunt made.

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Her favorite paring knife and her two-foot-long key chain.

Grandma had this key chain that had ring after ring after ring attached to this long chain, and each one carried keys to god knows what. Also attached was a 6-in. plastic plate with her name, "FLORENCE," on it. (Those nameplate key rings were a fad sometime in the 70s; maybe someone remembers them.) It's a wonder she didn't have to have her ignition replaced every 500 miles with that damned key ring.

[skygazer]

17. Not someone I knew personally

But I wish I had my great-great grandfather's Civil War uniform and sword. A distant cousin has them. I do have the belt buckle from his uniform, though - my most prized possession.

[merh]

18. my mother's button collection.

like you, I played with it's contents all the time. It was an amazing collection and the buttons were stored in a cigar can. My father smoke cigars and all of his empty cans and boxes were recycled and used as storage containers. Father's day and christmas and birthdays were made easy, we gave him boxes of his favorite cigars. So the cigar can would be the best keepsake, the reminder of the two of them.

:hi: :hug:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

22. ...and where DO these things go to??

I have no idea what happened to grandma's button bag. Has to be in heaven with her, I'm a-reckoning! :)

:hug: :loveya:

(Glad you're around more now...you were missed!)

[crim son]

19. It's kind of a strange question but I have an answer.

One of my grandfathers used to wear a silk dressing robe. It was very unusual, made of small squares of brightly colored heavy fabric and I loved it. I always thought of it as Joseph's Coat of Many Colors although Grampa's name was Jim :) When he did my grandmother wouldn't part with it, which I understand and instead I have a hand-carved figure made especially for him years and years agao. But that robe. I know exactly how it smells, you know?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

21. Maybe strange, but I love the answers!

I think it would make a really sweet book for a holiday season.

[Connonym]

25. I know exactly what you mean -- found a bottle of my dad's aftershave

in my mom's bathroom. I almost started to cry when I smelled it. I told my mom she can never throw it out. Shit, I'm almost starting to cry just thinking about it. It'll be 3 years next month that he's been gone.

[crim son]

27. I'm sorry, Connonym.

Scent has a powerful effect on the memory, doesn't it? I remember shortly after my grandfather died it was Christmas and the entire family, as always, gathered at my parents' place for the holiday. Early Christmas morning I found myself awakened by I don't know what but as I lay in the dark with my eyes open I was absolutely certain I could smell Grampa's cologne. I've never forgotten it and have even imagined that perhaps he was visiting us for the holida. :hug:

[bif]

20. Part of the several million dollars my great aunt had

She left it to my aunts and uncles. But since my mom is dead, our family was cut out of the will.

[grasswire]

32. that happened to me, too

on both my mother's and father's side of the family.

My mother died before her siblings, and the money that had been coming to her from her then-living, childless brother went to her sisters, not to her heirs. He had always told us there was a share for us.

And on my father's side, the family money from lumber and two waterfront homes resided in my last remaining uncle's care. He was in a nursing home, and was convinced to "donate" the money and everything he owned to the foundation associated with the nursing home. Everything, including family photos/letters, even his socks and toothbrush and all the oil paintings he, my aunt and other uncle had painted were all gone. We could have nothing.

[DeepBlueC]

23. my grandmother's butter dish

It was just plain glass, slightly green, but it was big and square, made for lumps of fresh country butter. No one else I knew used one like it, and it was always one of the things that made grandma's house separate and special for me. My family saved nothing of my grandmother's. She just lived three houses down from us and my aunt's house was next door. I don't understand why her daughters couldn't find something to keep, not because it was valuable, but because it was hers.

[SoxFan]

24. Time

Three of my grandparents died before I was ten years old. I wish that I could have been able to talk to them about their early lives in tumultuous early 20th century Ireland and about their experiences as new Americans in the midst of the Depression.

[Mendocino]

28. My great uncles flyfishing rod,

He caught a mess of trout with it.

[mainegreen]

29. The book tracing my family tree back to 1300's germany.

[grasswire]

33. was that a handwritten book?

Or is it possible to find a copy with a bookseller somewhere?

[mainegreen]

37. Hand written.

[mykpart]

31. My grandmother's recipe for peanut brittle.

[SKKY]

34. My Grandmother's Yahtzee game...

...we used to play that for hours, and hours, and hours. She left me some stuff when she passed away, (Money, jewelery, valued possessions, etc), but the only thing I really had emotional attachment to was that game.

[QMPMom]

35. My Aunt Ruth's pickle recipe. The pickles she used to make

were the best ever.

[Phentex]

36. The small glass figures I gave my nana for her curio....

I specifically remember a little hand-blown wishing well that she loved. Afer she died, everyone said the curio cabinet was mine. Then my aunt put it in storage where it got water damaged and ruined and I have no idea what happened to the figurines. :(

[Deep13]

38. Honestly? Dad's 33 acre Xmas tree farm.

He died intestate, so it belongs to my step mother.