Sentimentality

Many many years ago, when I was really younger and was traveling to Europe, I was hung on memorabilia or any artifacts from my country. For one, Herend Porcelain, Zsolnay and Hollohaza are world famous names Hungarian porcelains. At least as far as I know.

These go back in many years and to find a real old piece was and is not easy. But I prevailed and built up a little collection of these and succeeded to bring them out with me on my returns to the US. Thanks to my parents and their friends they all had a few real old pieces and were happy to give some of them to me. In addition, in my travels if I found some pieces in other countries, I always made an effort to buy some.

My parents also had other old, old pieces of decorative items and paintings that eventually found a home with me.

And that is where my problem starts. As much as I love and value these pieces, I am alone with this interest. My wife is not much into them, our kids including Abigail do not know which end is up. They have absolutely no interest in old relics. They don't even see sentimental value to this much less artistic value.

So, what do I do with them? Once I am no longer around, I will not worry about them but while I am still here this knowledge really bothers me. I don't think I am alone with this kind of issue. Our kids have no interest at all in our past. They grow up here in this country and they have totally assimilated into this culture. Our past history, our mementos, our relics are gracefully accepted while we are around but upon our demise, they are slated to wind up in an attic storage space.

That is very sad. With our goings we are slated to disappear from the family's memory with everything that we held dear and with our personal history.