Belongings with sentimental value

[Siobhan Burke]

Do you have any toys or other things that have sentimental value? Something that you can't see yourself ever throwing away, because the memory that you've attached to it still lingers?

During the first week or so of the new year I always clean house. I obviously dust, wash and vacuum a lot more often than that, but that first cleaning session is an intensive scrubbing. I am not a hoarder, but there are some of my old toys that have survived many such cleaning onslaughts.

One is an old fashioned red rag doll simply called Ragdoll. I know she was a gift when I was three or four years old, but I cannot remember from whom. She has been re-stuffed many times. The material is getting really threadbare, so at this point it's probably only the dust keeping her together. She was my favourite toy to cuddle because she is quite flat, so I didn't wake up when I rolled over her. Though she stayed behind when I went to university, she made the journey to my first house after that and has stayed with me. I honestly can't imagine ever parting with her.

I also have old casette tapes (really showing my age here). The ones I kept are mostly stories read by voice actors - basically abridged audio books, if you want. I doubt I'll ever listen to all of them ever again, but I just can't throw them out.

[Meredith Malkins]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who keeps their childhood toys around. For me it's Pooh bear, who was given to me when I was born and has suffered greatly under my affection. I'm told he once had plush fur, but he certainly doesn't now! I have a special place in my room for him to sit, and I'll keep him around for as long as possible.
As a kid, I've had many phases (and many things I've kept from them), the ballerina phase (Angelina Ballerina magazines and my first soft shoes), the princess phase (fairy-tale books), the fairy phase (lots of fairy-related stuff around my room, but it's all very elegant so it's okay), and the on-going Medical and Genetics phase (hey, I read medical books for fun, nothing wrong with that...), but the Pooh Bear phase has some of my fondest memories/family stories (and favourite books, AA Milne was awesome).
But shh, don't tell anyone. Teenagers aren't supposed to keep and love their stuffed toys. I clearly haven't received the memo...
And that's only the beginning of the stuff I hoard. It all has sentimental value to me.

[Lavinia Rookwood]

An old school porcelain like doll with her own little wicker chair and a bunny couple with homemade clothing. It's not at all my style anymore, but they're my remnants from my mawmaw (My dad's grandmother), who passed away a few years ago from Alzheimer's. She was an absolute delight though when I was younger, and didn't take any nonsense from anyone. (There's actually a story about me switching who I was holding hands with, depending on their 'hierarchy'. Mawmaw won because she was the boss of everyone, lol.) And she was a fantastic cook. But the toys in particular make me remember her living room, which is where I would also sleep alot of times, on the floor in front of the heater, while she slept on the sofa. (The bed was so old and lumpy, that the people who were 'gifted' the use of it didn't sleep well.) It was always so toasty and I would go to sleep looking at the toys (and okay, playing with them also, I was a little kid, what do you expect?)

[Hanna Inari]

I may be unlucky, but I'm keeping all the dolls that I didn't like that much and I've lost the one that was my favourite. She looked a lot like me and I even named her after myself, and sometimes I'm starting to think that maybe I made her up But I never cared about dolls much anyway.

The things that are most important to me from my childhood are my diaries and letters. I also have cassettes with my songs and music that I played on piano and recorded on them.

I also have a moonstone which I wore at the hardest times at school, it was my main amulet. I wore it under my clothes. Then I stopped wearing it because I decided that it had enough negative energy in it and can't protect me anymore. I tried to make other things my amulets after that but none of them were as good and were soon forgotten.

The phrase of not throwing something away sounds strange to me because I try not to throw anything away. I even keep almost all of my notes from school and university. I have all my things and I can always look through them, I can read my old lyrics and diaries for hours and it gives me more hope and powers.

[Elizabeth Mayes]

I haven't saved any old toys, but I do still have my nightlight. It has this neat stained glass like cover with a nice heavy base. I accidentally knocked it over as a kid and damaged it a bit, but it all still works. I keep it on my desk in my library. My husband still has an old stuffed musical turtle from when he was a baby. I use it to decorate my kids book shelf... which is full of Bernstein Bears books, some of which I've owned since I was 6 (they have dates in them). I have save game systems from when I was a kid, like my old PS2. My hands down, to this day, favorite video game is Okami, which I still own, so I keep the PS2 for whenever I feel like replaying the game.

[Marie Dark]

Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one....
I have a doll named Mrs. Beasley.... but my original doll was so ugly because I took scissors to her hair and drew on her face with permanent marker. (please understand, I was 3 or 4 yrs old) But even after all the dress changes and horrible childhood decorative abuse, I kept her the longest. Then I too went to Cal Poly University and upon coming home for the Holidays my folks had a bad infestation of vermin due to a house on my block had burned down and the house was a mess.... well, to make a long story short, ( which is already too late) vermin ran to other houses on my block and nestled in my folks garage and my mother wanted a spring cleaning of sorts ((ie; Throwing out Old Stuff)) and that's when my dad discovered Mrs. Beasley eatened by these critters.... so in the trash she went.
Well, ten years passed and I became a mother and found a store online that sold Vintage replica toys..... "Oh, I was a kid Again"! And there she was, Mrs. Beasley..... even though she had no marked up face or cut hair.... her voice box worked and I had to have her..... she arrived a few days later and she sits in my room to this day. So having a piece of childhood is very satisfying and feels good....

And Elizabeth, I understand the nightlight.... I too have one of a fairy when I was 12 yrs old but my daughter has it now.
And Hanna, I completely understand your amulet and I bet you could still use it.... amulets have powers of replenishings but that's only my belief.
Lavina.... both my beautiful grandmothers have passed and I miss them so much and I too have wonderful memories of my childhood sleep overs at their houses.
Meredith. ... I too have snuck a box of stuff I was supposed to throw out and stacked it back in my mom's garage under Grandmother's antiques... ( my dad's mom, so my mother would never touch the box... because she respects my dad.... ) so I put my "Fairy Phase" in the New Plastic Sealed box... lol
Siobhan.... this is a great topic... thankyou for starting it... like your Rag doll, my Mrs. Beasley will have a place in our hearts for a very long time.

Thankyou everyone for sharing your stories, I thoroughly enjoyed them.