My Precioussssss...
When I came home yesterday, there were about 20 police and firemen in the lobby of my building. Seems one of my neighbors left a candle burning and an errant breeze blew a curtain into it. Half her kitchen was flame-roasted before New York’s Bravest showed up to save the day.
Theoretically if the building had burned down, my homeowner’s insurance would have covered the cost. But I felt a chill thinking of all the favorite things in my apartment that are irreplaceable. There’s family photos, of course. My blankie. My grandma’s hand-pieced quilts, and the prayer shawl my grandfather gave my father, which I now wear. Oh, and the 19th century brass samovar, pictured at right, which my great-grandfather brought over from the Old Country. I was obsessed with the samovar as a child and now that it’s mine I like to polish it and murmur My Preciousssssss. It’s my favorite things that make my home feel like home.
What are your favorite things in your home? Partners, kids and furkids need not apply….we’re talking strictly material goods here. What’s beautiful, an heirloom or close to your heart? What makes your home feel like home?
That samovar is definitely covetable! For me, the clay head I made in a sculpture course, my 50-million-year-old fossil fish, my big wooden Dala horse (sentimental value) and my New Rock boots, which I adore with an unreasonable passion.
My books, and all the special things in my china cabinet display. These include things such as: a woman in a wedding dress made out of seashells that was my mom’s (under the dress was a light for a nightlight), a ceramic apple my mom used to keep change in for school lunches, a little ceramic squirrel I painted as a kid, a jar full of nuts, a large turtle, a few decorative tins, some seashells, a few fossils, some small gifts my kids have given me, etc.
I have a doll on a music box from when I was very small that I would miss. I would cry for days over ruined musical instruments, generally, if it ever came to that.
I’ve been trying to think of what it would be since I read your post last night, and other than my computer and external hard drive (research! music! photos!), there isn’t much stuff of value that I own or that is irreplaceable. Of course I’d be devastated if I lost my books, but as they number in the hundreds, they don’t qualify as “stuff I’d grab on my way down the fire escape.” I might grab the box of cards and letters I’ve received from the Dude over the years, or some original artwork we have from animators we know, but other than that? My stuff is only special because it’s stuff I use on a regular basis.
My blankie (I have one too and I will NEVER get rid of it.) and all my journals. I’ve been journaling since I was 8 years old, and I would be devestated to lose that record. Plus, I’m sure my future posthumous biographers would very upset as well.
1. My books. Mr. Boxer and I have a combined library of over 1000 volumes, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds as I go through grad school. (History requires a LOT of books.) I buy all my books for school and hang onto them, because I keep referring back to them.
2. I have handmade quilts and afghans from my grandmother and great-aunt (sisters, my mother’s mother and aunt). I have the last quilt my grandma made, as well as the quilt she made for my parents’ 5th anniversary. I have an afghan my great-aunt made for my grandma about 50 years ago, a real showpiece of several different crochet patterns and monogrammed, to boot. I get to see the roots of my own needlecraft obsession every time I go to bed. Losing those quilts and afghans would be almost as bad as losing my library.
*losing the quilts would be almost as bad only because my sister and my aunt have the rest of Grandma and Aunt M’s quilts and afghans, each with their own story, so the complete history wouldn’t be lost in a fire at my place. If I had all the quilts and afghans…wow. They’re irreplaceable. The books, well, it would take a while but we’d rebuild.
@ShadowBoxer: That’s how I feel about my Grandma’s quilts, particularly the ones she made especially for me. She has Alzheimers and one of her last quilting projects was to make a baby quilt for any future children I migth have. If I lost it in a fire…I don’t know what I’d do.
um like Dork I really only own books, although actually there are some I’m probably try and grab when I left.
Other than that I have a box of letters from family, friends etc that I love, plus tons of photos and my dido, which is a ratty old toy dog inexplicably named after the queen of carthage by me when i was a child.
Oh and probably my wedding dress – I do love my wedding dress, it’s short, 1940s and vintage with beads on it. It’s not at all formal and i bought it because I reckon I can die it and rewear it one day when I’m less lazy.
Meant to add – I own far too many books to take them. Around 5000 here in New York and a further 12,000 hanging around my parents home waiting for me to return to England. I would cry if i lost my books, its very rare that I throw one away (I have to be really disappointed in it)
Definitely our collection of original artwork, in particular two pieces of sculpture that weren’t especially pricey but I love, two paintings I bought from SF artists back in the day, one painting I did for my husband, and of course our engagement painting. I also have some art and decorative items I’ve picked up during my travels that have a lot of sentimental value to me.
We have an old suitcase full of all the original letters sent by my partner’s grandparents from the US, England, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, India, and beyond. Irreplaceable! That reminds me to get scanning those. And yes, one piece of original artwork from a famous artist in his family that no one would ever forgive us for burning. Must remember to blow out my candles!!!
I never remember to print my pictures, so the computer is a favorite thing for sure. Also: a snowglobe with the Cinderella Castle from Magic Kingdom in it, because I’ve had it since my early teens, and it reminds me of family vacations. And the painting my boss (a painter) gave me last month as a going-away present. And maybe my KitchenAid stand mixer, but it’s damn heavy to save from a fire.
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-My beloved Peter Rabbit. He was and still is my first love. He’s a stuffed version of the main character from Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s book (which my mom had memorized at one point and used to recite to me in a fake English accent when I had trouble sleeping) and I’ve had him since my fourth birthday, and I have no intention of giving him up, in spite of the fact that I’ll be 20 in just under four weeks. He travels to and from Cornell with me, although for smaller trips he stays in my primary place of residence—as much as it feels wrong to sleep without him, I’m terrified of losing him in an airport and I couldn’t abide replacing him. I used to always say that I’d sleep with him until I had another human to put my arm around instead, but as The Boyfriend adores him—and has a little stuffed tiger of his own—I’ll have to reconsider that thought…
-My quilt. My mom helped finish all the stitching over the past few months, but for the most part I made my colorful, huge (67″x76″) patchwork quilt entirely by myself while I was on an anxiety-related health leave from college for most of last year. Sewing strips was at times the only way I could keep myself together, and at times I would just sit up in my room sewing for hours. (I still do, only now I’m working on a baby quilt for my new niece back in Ithaca.) It symbolizes resilience for me, and I can’t wait to finally bring it to Cornell in the fall.
-My records. They’re currently in storage and not with me, but I adore vinyl. I own so many of my all-time favorite albums (both old AND new, since I’m a geek like that) on vinyl, and practically every one of them has a story behind its acquisition—this one I can’t believe I found for $2 in great condition, this one was given to me by a friend, this one I searched for for ages and wound up paying $50 for it on eBay but it was totally worth it. I’ve got a really good stereo system, too (that and my turntable came in two consecutive Christmases) so playing records sounds really warm and wonderful.
-My word books—I love all the good books that I own, but I have a special affinity for my nerdy word books that are pretty much directly responsible for my being a linguistics major. Stuff like that is like verbal crack to me, and one book in particular that my dad first showed to me in third grade and is now out of print and 30 years old with an extremely tattered cover is the wonderful The Joy Of Lex by Gyles Brandreth (if you ever see a copy, get it!!)—I’d be in pieces if I lost that one.
My Teddy Ruxpin, I got him for my third birthday. And for less sentimental reasons, my shoe collection. I have a few pairs that are gorgeous and I would hate to lose them. It would also be a disaster if my notebooks went up in flames, I keep all of the notes for my PhD in notebooks.
I left my first husband abut eight years ago and since then – despite having remarried – the majority of my stuff has been in storage, some of it in a rented unit, some of it at my mom’s. I haven’t even seen many of my prized possessions in all that time. My husband and I live in a 750-sqft loft and prior to moving in with him I rented a 10×13 bedroom in my friends’ house – oh yeah I’ve got stuff there too – a lamp, a dresser, papasan chair. And I’ve spent way more money on that damn storage unit than the contents are worth. But it contains my grandmother’s furniture and so many other things – books, knick-knacks. I dream about the day that I can open all those boxes and unpack them… Here, in our apartment I have some of my many books and a few precious things: a seriously tacky ’60s Jesus framed art object that says God Bless Our Home in rainbow-hued letters, from my late Nana’s house (it’s really small and hilariously awful). A pair of ceramic kissing angels from my late Poppy. I hate the idea of moving and we can’t afford to anyway, but man, I’d love to actually live with my all my shit instead of renting it a room.
My precious childhood doll Becky and the little nightgown put on one Ms. Becky Sharper right after her birth.
I have too many books to put them on this list, even though they’re my favorite things. I’ve been thinking about this for days and the weird thing is I keep thinking how it would definitely suck to lose everything I own in a fire (I don’t even have insurance, because I’m not very good at being an adult), but it would also be kind of a relief. Freeing in a Fight Club kind of way.
MamaSharper, you just made me cry at my desk. That is SO SWEET!
As for the things I would hate to lose in a fire:
1) All my family and vacation photos. The photos bring back stories I’d otherwise forget.
2) Journals – I’ve kept journals sporadically, but I LOVE rereading them, and I think my kids might one day want to read them too. I adored reading my grandmother’s journals – she was born in 1889 and I didn’t really know her until she was in her 90s. So learning about all the amazing stuff she’d done was a revelation.
3) Two Edward Weston portraits of the same grandmother.
4) The computers that hold all my babies’ photos.
5) A ring, from my great great aunt, that my mother gave me after we had our first child. A wonderful, sentimental heirloom and gorgeous to boot.
6) The first edition series of Robert E Lee’s journals which was, alas, already lost in a fire. I still mourn that set of incredible books.
Obviously, family photos (although I’m hoping to soon have them scanned, digitized and backup copies stored elsewhere).
My grandmother’s jewelry. I have her wedding ring set, a couple of cocktail rings, her watch, her small diamond stud earrings, and her pearls. I also have a century-old gold pendant watch that belonged to my great-grandmother, who died young, around 1919. It still winds up and keeps good time. Actually, when I go out of town I put these things in a bank safe deposit box, because they are absolutely irreplaceable. Oh, and my grandmother’s rolling pin. There’s nothing special about it, except that it was hers.
A wooden chest with red glass front drawers. The glass specified that it was from the Coats & Clark thread company. This was a store display in the general store my great-grandparents, and then my grandparents, ran. It’s from the late 19th century, and in amazing condition. I keep important little bits and bobs in it.
My blankie and favorite stuffed doggie from childhood.
The quilt my other grandmother made for me.
The necklace my parents gave me when I graduated from high school, and my birthstone ring (a sapphire). My set of three gold bangle bracelets – one baby-size, one kid-size, and one adult size. These things also live in the safe deposit box a lot of the time.
The box of letters and cards my boyfriend has given to me over the past 3+ years.
Hmmm…I’m going to need one heck of a fire escape plan.
Hmmm…The gold and garnet ring in the shape of a lily that’s been in my family for so long that both age and original owner are unknown. The flute that I’ve played badly for the past 16 years.
The 12″ high pint glass smuggled out of a speciality beer house in my blotto student days.
And finally, my doc martens. They took so long to wear in that I’d cry if I had to do it again with another pair.
My aunt’s rings, my books, my pillow and stuffed bunny (named Bun-Bun) that I’ve had since age 2, and my computer, probably.
All the heirlooms and whatnot are still with my parents, as I am only 22 and they are very much alive.