I am visiting the closest descendants that I have, my nephews and the two sons of one of them. In thinking about the trip, I thought about some of the family mementos that I have, what to do with them when I am dead. Will the boys be interested in items that were owned by great-great-great grandparents who were dead long before they were born?
My cabinet of curiosities, has momentos from my life. A Leprechaun pencil sharpener that was a gift from Uncle Dick's mother when she returned from a trip to Ireland. I have had it since I was about 5 years old. A silver music box that belonged to my great-grandmother - she died the year I finished high school. A couple of photos from my parents, a photo on metal of my father that was taken when he was a teenager at the Michigan State Fair, the photo of the last airplane he owned that he carried in his wallet for 50 years. Probably a 100 little things collected from my travels, tacky Eiffel Towers, norse gods from Iceland, and a growing collection of tiny ceramic bowls. My father's pilot log books. Each one of these had meaning to me, but will they have meaning to anyone else.
There are times when I wish someone had saved for me items that connect me to great grandparents and great-great-great grandparents all but one of whom died before I was born. Some tangible connection to the past, and the stories about those people, who they were, how the lived and died connected to those objects. The items are nice, the stories that come with them are even better. I have an enameled pendant watch, that my Great-Grandfather bought for my Great-Grandmother 114 years ago, when he returned from a job in Mexico. For my nephew's sons, they would be a great-great-great-great grandparents. I have their marriage licence, and birth certificates from there to complete the chain of relationships. I need to start making a plan, and moving these things on, or they will be just more stuff tossed in the dumpster someday.
What is in the cabinet above, a long dead Pope who was recognized as a Saint - which one?
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