Heirlooms

[pegkerr]

Today, while sorting through my jewelry box to find an necklace to wear with my new jacket, I ran across a ring that I've had since the age of twelve or so. It was given to me by my step-grandmother, my grandfather's second wife, for my birthday. She asked me to not tell my grandfather that she had given it to me, because he had given it to her, but she wanted me to have it because it had originally been given to my grandmother, his first wife. I was truly touched by her consideration in passing it on to me, so that it could remain in the family.

I absent-mindedly put it on my finger while I continued to dig for the necklace and only realized I had done so while driving to work. Now I am absurdly conscious of it. It is a star sapphire, set in white gold (I think???) surrounded by six small diamond chips. I haven't put it on in ages, because it is really too big for my finger and slips around.

Tell me about an heirloom you have received from someone you loved. What is the story behind it? How did you receive it? How do you use it? Was it given to you personally or bequeathed to you after death? What does it remind you of?

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I have a number of things, all valuable only in family significance. I can't say that I treasure one or the other more, but perhaps the most interesting to other people are the wooden objects my great-grandfather Charles Schmidt (my father's mother's father) made. After he retired from farming and his son and son-in-law took over, he made a lathe, and then he made these objects on it, from wood he cut and cured on his farm. One is a button box (actually I think he made these for another purpose, something to do with smoking paraphernalia, but the women in the family appropriated these as button boxes) with a perfectly fitting cover. In our living room, I have four wooden "cups" that will go to my kids; each has a freely turning ring around its stem, all cut from a single piece of wood. I also have two similar cups without rings. Some of these have his name, and/or "Alta, Ia.," and/or the type of wood, noted in ink, in his hand, on the bottom.