When I was 10, my mom bought me a bed set that consisted of flannel sheets with sheep all over them and a blue blanket, also with sheep on it.
When I met my husband, he adopted the sheep blanket and started hogging it whenever we cuddled up on the couch. When we moved to Australia, the sheep blanket was what we put in our dog’s crate in order to comfort her and act as security. We were pretty sure it would be destroyed upon arrival, but it’s getting kind of threadbare, so that was okay.
Nope. It’s here. I’m 32 years old and I still have my blankie.
I have a hand held mixer that I have had for 35 years. If you pick it up out of the bowl while you are mixing the little whirly things tend to fly off, but why would you do that anyway?
I love to cook but hate to bake (isn’t that obvious?) but my grown daughter loves to bake so she has a very fancy mixmaster and does this ----> :rolleyes: at my little hand held one.
A handmade doll made out of socks with yellow yarn for hair and a yellow outfit made by a co-worker of my mom’s - I’m guessing about 22 years. My daughter has it now.
A little poseable teddy bear that travels with me everytime I get on a plane - at least 19 years. Still in good shape and sitting on top of my monitor bay.
A mug with a poem about friends that was a gift from a friend in high school - 18 years. OMG, it’s been a long time.
My white Fender 6-string acoustic that was also a gift from a friend - about 12 years.
An amber heart charm from a necklace that was the first significant I can remember my husband giving me - about 9 years. Just found it yesterday while cleaning out old purses that were never unpacked when we moved over a year ago.
Probably so much more as I’m a terrible packrat who’s pitifully sentimental. And this isn’t even counting all the stuff I left at my parents’ house!
I have a Carrie Nation temperance pledge signed by my Great Aunt Hannah in the early 1900s. I’ve got piles of old LPs, books and photos and a skate key that was my mother’s when she was 10.
I also have these Frye boots from 1973. I wouldn’t dream of wearing them, but I just can’t throw 'em out.
I have a dinner fork, pilfered decades ago from the NAAFI canteen at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus; it is made of stainless steel with four very nice long, slender prongs, a rounded handle (complete with the ‘N’ logo) and is perfectly shaped and balanced. I have used it at every meal for the last twenty years or more.
I went through a major Zen thing about 10 years ago and gave almost everything I own to my brother and sisters. I would imagine they have some of the stuff stored away. The only thing I can think of that I have held onto for many, many years is a thin, flat rubber disk that’s used to open stubborn jars. Oh, I also have the first “nice” pen I bought when I got out of college.
I have a Cross Pen and Pencil Set given to me as a high school graduation gift 32 years ago.
I have a baby picture of me made when I was three months old. I look so cute in my little green jumpsuit with the cowboy print. AWWWWWWWWW!!!
I have a hand held can opener that was my grandmother’s. She died in 1967. I have no idea how old it is.
I have a cookie jar from a small store a great uncle ran for years. It’s at least 80 years old.
I have a Prayer Book with my name engraved on it that was given to me (my parents really) when I was baptized as a wee infant.
I have the world’s tackiest ashtray. It’s a mermaid sitting atop a seashell on a blue plaster base meant to resemble the ocean. My sister gave it to me 25 years ago when we were on a hunt for the tackiest souvenir from our vacations. BTW she has a set of lovely ceramic salt and pepper shakers in the shape of Graceland given to her by yours truly. Cherished treasures those are!
I got my dresser when I was five. It’s scarred by cuts and paint from when I built models on it. I’ve thought about getting rid of it, but then I’d have to buy a new one. Perhaps I will. But after more than 30 years, I wonder if I’ll miss it? It’s not like it’s a good dresser. Just something from Sears. Maybe I’ll get a new dresser and use it someplace else. I suspect I’ll end up taking it to Re-Store so someone else can use it.
I have a lap desk that I bought in college, nearly 25 years ago. It’s been decorated (in permanent marker) by Moon Unit but still does the job when needed.
Papa Zappa still has a bathrobe his parents bought him when he was in college, several years before that. It’s pretty much transparent but otherwise in “ok” condition.
I’ve got a pillowcase on my bed that I bought just before college. I like to tell my spouse that I’ve known it longer than I’ve known him.
And of course, there’s our marriage license, which is now old enough to drink legally
My first scout knife. Probably had it for 37+ years.
When my father died in 1978, my mom hoarded most of his personal stuff (cufflinks, tie tacks, masonic jewelry and paraphernalia, etc). Just recently, she’s decided that I can have those things and has given them to me.
In one of his jewelry cases, I found all of my baby teeth.
I have my “Floppy”, a stuffed dog that was my brother’s, then my sister’s, then mine. He is missing an ear, and his fur is almost gone, and his innards are hanging out because he’s held together with safety pins. My mom unstuffed him to wash him, and restuffed him with old stockings…not pantyhose, actual stockings. He has been my faithful companion for 47 years, though I don’t sleep with him anymore. My brother is 56, so Floppy is quite elderly, but eternally cute and sleepy. I’m sure his other ear is packed in a box of doll clothes somewhere, because I remember seeing it about 15 years ago.
If Gund ever reissues this dog, I will buy one for everyone I love.
I’ve still got a stuffed beagle (his name is Snoopy, btw) someone got me for my second birthday. Mom and Dad don’t quite remember who got him for me, but I suspect it was probably my grandfather, who raised the critters when he was younger and whose CB handle was “Beagleman.” Old Snoop’s had to have a few minor surgeries over the years, he’s a bit faded, and his hat’s been gnawed off, but he’s in remarkably good shape for one of my old toys. He used to live on my bed, but now he lives on a shelf for his own protection (Dolly the Vicious Attack Hound has a stuffy fetish.)
I’ve also got a stuffed lamb of roughly the same vintage that my uncle left lying around Grandma’s house. Her name is Pamela, or sometimes Pammy Lambie. She was apparently a prop for a somewhat raunchy Halloween costume, and it used to drive my grandmother crazy to see me playing with “that nasty old thing.”
Besides the usual photographs, etc., I have two dolls I’ve owned since I was six. I have several stuffed animals with a certain patina of age. I have a kitchen table my parents refinished when I was 10. I have the shirt I wore on my first date with my husband. I have knick-knacks I’ve had since my teens. And some really old record albums that I’m not gonna tell you what they are.
I have all of the View Master reels I got as gifts or bought with my allowance when I was a boy. The oldest ones would be about 30 years old by now.
I have the first book I ever received as a gift (other than children’s books my parents gave me); it’s an anthology of folklore and legends (meant for young adults, though I was in second grade) given to me by the librarian in my elementary school dated Christmas 1973. (She was a stern and bossy woman who resembled Winston Churchill and was older than boron, but for some reason she liked me- wonder if that has anything to do with why I became a librarian.)