What's your weirdest memento?

Is it weird that I've kept my children's teeth? Don't all tooth fairies?

Sarah, that's not weird at all. I've got all my kid's baby teeth in plastic pill bottles (1 for each kid). And everybody knows I'm not weird .


Weird Mementos--I have too many to pick just one...you choose:

-the empty diet Inca Cola bottle from my mission trip to Peru
-the foot long blonde ponytail from when my mom cut my hair in 5th grade
-smuggled potsherds from tels in Turkey, Israel, Greece, and Italy
-my first diary from when I was about 8 (not weird to have one, but some of the entries probably fall into that category)
-a butterfly collection I made 32 years ago
-the handmade button proclaiming me to be an official member of the boyhaters club (fourth grade)

That's probably enough for now...

OMG, Sarah...that is too wierd. I was just gonna say that!

But maybe I have one weirder: I also have all the baby teeth of every pet I have ever had.

I have other wierd mementos. Some...well, I'll just not even go into it. Everyone here already thinks I am strange enough!!! ~laughing~

Butternut Bread used to put Peanuts (Snoopy, Charlie Brown, etc) stickers in their bread bags in the '70s. (I don't remember if they did it in the '80s.) I used to collect and save them when I was a kid, but of course they were all lost over the years. I had just one sticker sheet left intact, showing three Christmas-themed stickers. This intact sticker sheet was always in the top drawer of every desk I used in my room as I was growing up. Amidst all the junk in the drawer, the sticker sheet was on the bottom. It's pretty small, maybe two inches by two inches.

Somehow I hung onto it over the years. After we bought our house in 2000, I still had the stickers. Picking up the sheet and looking at it reminded me of being very young. Being a lifetime Peanuts fan, somthing like that is kind of important to me, and I didn't want to just leave it out. So I went out to Dollar General and bought a little frame. Those little stickers are now protected and on display in my library.

They're worthless, of course, but to me, it's like stepping back momentarily to when I was 5.

allen

pb10220 said:

-the handmade button proclaiming me to be an official member of the boyhaters club (fourth grade)

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Are you still a member?
Mark

I have every flower every boy ever sent me, from junior high on, and the little cards that came with them.
I have a deflated balloon from every school dance I ever attended.
I have a piece of every Homecoming float I worked on (Freshman thru Senior).

Most of mine are pretty boring and tame, but, ah well, they're mine.

I have several odd mementos, just like any one else. But the most bizarre has to be the jaw breaker.

The story behind the jawbreaker is thus...

One warm autumn afternoon, I was driving home from an interview, with my car windows down. I was in the left-hand lane, and there was no one near me in the right. The area was semi-residential, with big privacy fences along the street. Just to set the scene.

I suddenly felt something bounce off the top of my left thigh, and heard a thump on the diver's door.

I looked around, but didn't see anything, nor anyone.

When I got home, I searched the car, and found the culprit. A big, red jawbreaker. It had flown through the passenger window, but darned if I know who sent it to me.

Needless to say, for no other reason than the mystery involved, I kept it.

I have my 30 year old son's first teddy bear. He's trashed, one eye missing and one ear, his fur faded and torn. I wouldn't part with him for the world.

I also have poems written by me or to me on bar napkins, and every single love letter, note, flower or card I've ever gotten.

warning - i'm a harmless nutter

i still have the first condom i ever wore

once my ex and i feared she was pregnant. and we went to a family planning centre - first time i ever felt in my life out of depth. i still have the test stick thingy.

once i made her cry because i left her. she just collapsed and cried for so long. i got her toilet paper. i glued all that used toilet paper together and still have it. kind of a reminder of the power people let others have over them and how i must accept that with responsibility.

i could go on, but i really should have stopped many many years ago...

pconsidine said:

Aw come on, Carole. The damage is already done. Might as well get into the spirit.


Your turn. Really.

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Ok, fine. Just rememebr I warned ya!

First the tame:
A carved candle from my older son and a small snowglobe from my younger son. These are always ALWAYS on display in the front of my curio cabinet no matter what time of year it is. When I grabbed up my boys and hightailed it outta Cali away from the ex-jerk, we had NO money. My boys saved lunch money for who knows how long to buy me those two things at a Christmas carnival that year.

A candle *experiment* I made a long time ago. On one side I carved ilspeth / Myrlyn in a big filigree looking heart. Hubby found it and on the backside he carved *YUP!* and dated it.

A small piece of paper from the time...a long time ago...when I wrote out my name with hubby's last name just to see how it looked

The first poem (actually I have all of them) hubby wrote me. It was my birthday and we were both broke. He wrote me a poem

A tiny little gold snowflake charm with an itty bitty diamond in the center. Daddy bought it for mom a long time ago.

The outfits that both my boys wore home from the hospital when they were born

My older son's favorite stuffed animal, Bo.

A card my younger son made me.
(ok...so I keep everything my boys have ever brought into the house!)

A charm bracelet hubby made me

A long twist of black and blonde hair...a piece of mine and a piece of hubby's, twisted together.

A watercolor I made hubby that is signed, "Tied Up & Twisted"

And now for the unusual:
(remember...I warned ya!)

A collection of tiny white feathers from when my deceased brother in law decides to pop in and say, "hi"

A small strip of leather....honeymoon memories *grin*

A T-shirt that hubby bought for me at a show and then he stained later that night...I never washed it. *BIG grin...he was naughty!*

A collection of black & white photos that NO ONE will ever see but hubby & me.

A small vial with certain...um...essences from both hubby and me

A black leather bustier...more honeymoon memories!

A perfectly preserved leaf from *someone's* attempt at indoor home gardening a loooong time ago.

there's more. I just don't wanna go on. ~laughing~

I have an Overwaitea matchbook with matches in it from my commune-living days in British Columbia. We didn't have electricity--we lived in the middle of nowhere, off the AlCan, so we used propane lighting. I always carried matches in my pockets. My husband once found the book and used one of the matches. He knows better, now.

I also have a sugar packet from Olive Garden, from when my husband and I were dating. He wrote in red pen on it "Your sweet!" (sic) I have kept every love letter and poem he's written. Okay, I've also kept every letter anyone has ever written to me, too--and I have a lot of them from living on the commune away from my family. It's almost like a reverse diary, of sorts.

pconsidine said:

Is it just me, or do some people tend to gravitate toward odd mementos? Oh well - at least we have each other, Carole.

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Heehee...I love the doorknob thing! That's awesome! THAT? That is something hubby would do if he had thought about it. Do you know that he steals a pillowcase from EVERY hotel he stays at?? And he practically lives on the road!! MY GOD we had hundreds of them before we moved. Now we have about 20. He also keeps every single key card from every hotel.

I thought of another memento, and Shwebb reminded me of it. I have two sugar packets and a stir stick from Dean & Deluca from the time I helped chaperone a bus load of 13 year old girls to NYC. That was a nightmare. On that rtrip I learned to never fall asleep on a bus around a bunch of 13 year old girls. I woke up just as the bus was arriving at the hotel....and found a huge gob of neon blue bubblegum in my hair.

I have a lable from a can of soup in my scrapbook. And it is my most cherished keepsake.

The reason: (Pre-marriage) My hubby and I were dating and supposed to meet for dinner. I became very ill, had such a high fever that I started having hallucinations. I cancled our plans and he tried to get me to go to the ER (apparently I was very strange on the phone...I barely remember the conversation). I refused because I didn't have insurance and was sure I would be fine (I was 16, sucky job w/out benefits and sure I knew everything). He drove to my house (which was about an hour from his) and claims I was really mean to him when he got there. I guess I cussed at him and told him to go away....again, I don't even remember him arriving. I don't doubt it though, when I'm sick, I just like to be left alone. Anyway, he gave me some medicine and sat silently beside me for hours, dabbing my forehead with a cool washcloth. He stayed up all night doing that for me though I was not awake for most of it, and when I was awake, I was pushing him away and telling him to leave me alone. Because of his constant care, my fever broke sometime in the early morning hours and I realized I'd been mean but didn't have the energy to even apologize so I slept and slept. He was gone when I woke up, he had to go to work after staying up all night with me. I thought he'd never talk to me again, but then I saw the tray beside the bed. On the tray sat a bowl of my favorite soup on a warming plate along side a single rose. I nearly cried. We had only been dating for a month or so, and not only had I kept him up all night, but I'd also been a complete b1tch to him, yet he didn't run away or get angry, no...he made me soup. I'd never had anyone do something so sweet or thoughtful for me before and I immediately went to the kitchen and dug the can out of the trash and peeled off the label because that wrapper meant more to me than all the 'I love you's in the world. Sappy but true.

Your story about the soup 'bout made me cry! (But it would have been a good cry.)

Ooh! I knew if I thought long enough, I'd come up with something strange...

You guys talking about keeping your kids' baby teeth made me think of it. I still have the stub of my son's umbilical cord! Ha! Knew I'd come up with something strange!

In a closet way in the back of our basement, right at the end of the hallway I have stashed anyone who has ever said "No" to me. Everyone needs a hobby!

I have so many weird things that it would be difficult to go through all of them, but I will mention my most recent one. As some of you know, my husband died on June 12th, after a long battle with diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure. A friend of ours had has his lady's symbol tattoed over his heart, and when Dan heard about this he wanted to have my symbol tattoed over his heart, but because of the diabetes his doctor wouldn't let him. About once a month he would mention how much he wanted to do it, and I would have to tell him no. So when he died it ran through my mind that I should have his symbol tattoed over my heart. A long series of events landed me in a chatroom devoted to Bo Bice this summer, and ending up in Nashville and then Mobile with a whole group of fans of his. Before we left for Nashville, we got into a conversation one night about tattoos, and I mentioned that I had been casually thinking about getting a tattoo and why. Immediately, they all urged me to do it, and the administrator offered it as her treat. She also offered to have the person who has done all of the art for Mr. Bice's band, Sugar Money, do the art. We didn't have time in Nashville, but on Friday night at Mobile, or rather at 5:30 Saturday morning, after waiting in line for hours, it was done. So, I now have the outline of a boar's head, in purple (Dan's favourite colour) over my heart, where I can feel his loving presence every minute of every day.

Hugs,
Chac / Heather

I'm sure I have some strange stuff, but nothing's coming to mind at the moment. However, hubby has a cute strange thing...

When we met, I had pink hair. I rode in his car on our first date. On his way home, he found a couple of strands of my hair on the passenger seat (easy to spot, I suppose, because they were neon pink). He put them in his sunglasses case and they're still there 6 years later.

pconsidine said:

I had to tape it to some tattoo parlor's business card so that I wouldn't lose it.

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This poses more questions than it answers...

I love this question, Pete!

I have this little shell covered box. My best friend when I was growing up, Emma, was from England. When she went there one year, she brought me back this little shell box. What it was doing in England... I have no idea. It's about 3 inches by 4 inches and it holds all of my prized possessions. In it:

A pin from my first Yankee game. It's a 1978 World Series commemorative pin.
6 Chinese jacks that belong to my older sister. I can't remember if I stole them or if she gave them to me. They're at least 22 years old.
A Mr. Yuck necklace charm made out of pottery by the sister mentioned above.
3 mushroom shaped shells, from my honeymoon.
An Inca Kola lid from the time I lived in peru.
A guitar pic that belonged to Ian McKaye of Fugazi (I saw them when I was 16).
Diaper pin that was mine when I was a baby. It's a cute yellow bear head.
1 Pearl Button from my wedding dress.
My Grandma's Thimble.
A turquoise and silver ring my dad bought me in Mexico (it's too small for me to wear now)
A Susan B. Anthony coin that we received as part of a wedding gift.
A Mack Truck Bull Dog pin.
One of those plastic weaved key chain things that my little sister made me at camp one year (Napoleon D. would call it a Boondoggle)
One of James' claws/nails that fell out. James my cat. He died when I was 17.
2 rings, a spoon ring from my grandma and an opal ring from my dad, that broke in half when I came down from the mountains in Peru. (something about the altitude/pressure)
A pair of leather cowboy hat earrings that my friend Tim bought me in Arizona.
A love note I wrote in the 4th grade but never gave to the boy.
A Picture of my friend Brittany and I at the Empire State Building when we were 11 and cutting class to spend the day in the city.
A newspaper clipping that my mom gave me when I got engaged. It's an article about love by Susan Deitz and it starts: "Being with him is coming home to a place I knew before and have been longing to return to. When we are together, I have the whole world with me..."