My Treasures by Marion Ekholm


I have “treasures,” items I love that have little value and will get tossed when I'm gone. Of course each has its own story. I’m including several here starting with the money holder my aunt made for me when I was in second grade. It contained my lunch money, and I wore it every day. It even appears on my dress in the school picture I had in a previous blog. From that time on, my mother stopped making me lunches, and I had to eat what was provided in the cafeteria. I still remember my second grade teacher making me sit through three lunch periods because I refused to eat pea soup. Its appeal didn’t increase as it got colder and colder, and I never touched it even though she threatened to send it home to my mother. Crazy, but as an adult it became one of my favorite foods.  


The necklace, made from plastic and wood, was a gift to my aunt from my uncle when he returned from the Korean War. She hated it and couldn’t understand why he’d buy her such a cheap piece of junk. She asked if I would take it, and I said sure. I wore it quite often and loved it while I was in high school right up until the clasp broke. And yes, today it would be a dollar store special. But believe it or not, I actually got compliments on it because it was so unusual.



The woven cockroach pin was a gift from my roommate when we lived in Manhattan. It commemorates all those cockroaches that shared our apartment.


This pin was given to me by my brother. It was a total surprise, something he bought with his own money for my Christmas gift. When I wasn’t wearing my aunt’s necklace, I wore the “diamond” broach until one of the “diamonds” fell out.   


These coins are fake pirate treasure you can buy in any tourist store in Florida. When my son was six, we visited his grandparents and spent the day on the beach with the usual shovels and buckets. My husband hid the coins in the sand in the area where Dave was digging. When he found them, he was so excited. He was rich! He found pirate treasure! Years later, when I was showing him the coins I’d kept, he was delighted, figuring he could get a windfall for them. His joy turned to disappointment when he learned they weren’t real.  

Do you have “treasures” with values only you can appreciate?

Comments

  1. I love treasures like this. Thanks for sharing them, Marion.

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    1. I have even more, enough to do several more blogs.

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  2. I love the cockroach pin, Marion! Thanks for sharing. One of my greatest treasures is my grandmother's diary.

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    1. I have two of my mother's diaries I found after her death. They were written prior to her marriage and my birth. Actually gave me a hint as to how I got my name.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your treasures, and the touching stories behind them, Marion!

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    1. Everyone could be worked into a Heartwarming novel.

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  4. Marion, I love all your treasures and the necklace is beautiful! Like you, I value things because of their sentimentality, no matter what they're worth monetarily. Your post is timely too, because, for some reason, I've been very nostalgic lately. I've been looking through a lot of my childhood and teenage 'treasures', which I keep in wooden treasure boxes. Everything from old earrings that hold memories to special marbles to a yellow, plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box (yes, there's a story behind it for another post ;). And I love to crochet and was recalling the skinny scarves and vests I used to make in the 70's, so seeing your money purse made me smile. Just yesterday, while looking at yarn, I told my mom how, when I first got married, I crocheted my husband a simple, gray scarf for winter. He has gotten so many store bought, expensive (cashemere etc...) scarves since then from other people, but he still wears the 'homemade' looking one I crocheted for him...even to the office.

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  5. Obviously it has special meaning for him. My mother wore an apron I made for her until it was an actual rag. It was made when I was in kindergarten! (And I loved to see her in it every time she wore it.)

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  6. I have a key chain of the Hawaiian goddess Pele, that Ron bought me on our honeymoon. It's now in several pieces, but still in the coin purse in my wallet. And my son made me a string of plastic and wooden beads for Mother's Day when he was 12. That's taken over Pele's spot on my key chain. Like your treasures, the value's in the love attached, not the price tag. Nice post, Marion.

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    1. I have a papier-mâché heart my daughter made me for Valentine's when she was in grammar school. Another treasure.

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  7. I love your treasures. Thank you for sharing them with us. The cocroach pin is my favorite. Who can forget the NY flying beasts. My favorite treasure is a hello kitty pencil sharpener that my dad brought me back from Japan when he was there for 6 months. I was 5-6 years old and the broken thing is the only item I have from my childhood (we moved around a lot).

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    1. Even though it's broken, we still hold onto those things that have happy memories.

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  8. Marion, I love your treasures. I suppose we all have things that mean a lot to us, but really aren't worth money. I have some glassware that belonged to my mom, and a broach she always wore on her winter coats. The stones are probably glass, before Svwarski crystal. And of course I have fun things my kids and grands have made for me. My daughters have real craft ability and I love some of the things they've made for me. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.

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    1. I have a bulletin board with all the pictures my talented granddaughters have made for me. Several times they've asked me why I still have birthday cards there that they made years ago. I love them.

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  9. Marion, I love this post. The money holder is my favorite. That would have come in so handy for carting my lunch money to school. I was always so scared I would lose my lunch money! When I was a little girl, my grandma crocheted me a pair of those mittens attached by a long string that you can put through the sleeves of your jacket. That way I could take a mitten off when I was playing outside and never lose it - it would just dangle from the end of my sleeve. I thought it was the best, most clever invention in the world. I still have them and the memory of my grandma right along with them.

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  10. I love this post and can so relate to treasures that have little monetary value. I have rocks and teddy bears and a popsicle frame a student made me. Sometimes just seeing those things makes me feel better.

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    1. I agree. Those warm memories can really help if I'm down.

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  11. Wonderful memories attached to your treasures. I love them all. I can just picture you sitting in front of the cold soup, arms folded, bottom lip protruding. I hated split pea soup as a child, too, but grew to like it. Good thing, because it's one of my husband's favorites.

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    1. My children wouldn't touch the pea soup when I made it and I haven't found any child who can stand it. But back then, the cafeteria was a new thing and the adults were cooking things they liked.

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  12. I LOVE your treasures, Marion! Thank you for sharing them with us. The cockroach might be my favorite...he's a cute little thing! :)

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    1. I actually wore that a few times, on the back of my shoulder to see if anyone would scream and try to knock it off.

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  13. Such sweet memories, Marion. Thanks for sharing. I have several treasures that I cherish, too. They bring back happy memories.

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    1. On occasion when I've tried to "clean" I made the mistake of tossing some things that were important to me. Always a regret.

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  14. Lovely treasures, even the cockroach pin. I have to admit that I don't miss N.Y.'s roaches. Yuck!! I have a few treasures. My grandmother's bible, a bag full of my daughter's baby shoes from infant to toddler, and a book my father used to love and read to me. I can't part with those things.

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    1. When I moved to the Bronx we had cats and left food out for them. At times, I'd swear the floor looked like it was moving.

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  15. Ah, those roaches. Nobody seems to have forgotten them, including me. Your so excellent post made me remember some of my own treasures: the Christmas ornaments my boys made that still hang on the tree every year; a velvet photo album with sepia pictures of my grandfather's relatives, none of them named but with great faces; the green plastic sewing basket my husband gave me when we were first married and that I still use; my mother's wedding rings in my jewelry drawer. Thanks, Marion. I hope you share more treasures next time.

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    1. I had a hard time choosing through my treasures so I'm sure I can find enough for another blog one day.

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  16. I have so many treasures. Among them are all the paperbacks my grandmother passed on to me to read. Novels like "Joy in the Morning," "The Godfather," and "Never Love a Stranger." They're falling apart and are held together with rubber bands, but no way can I part with them.

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    1. My friend started reading "The Godfather" and expected it to deal with religion. What a shock for her. I have a few books I treasure including my mother's "One Hundred and One Poems" that she had when she was in school.

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  17. Hi Marion, What great treasures. I love the story about the pirate coins. That should go in a book. smile

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    1. Someday it will. On that particular trip, my son looked like a pirate with a patch on one eye for real. He had an infection at the time and we had to keep it covered.

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  18. So cool, Marion! I love all the stories that go with your favorite things!

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  19. Thank you. I have a whole trunk full.

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  20. Marion, I final found your fatal flaw.
    I'm sorry. Pea soup is not for any age!
    I wouldn't have eaten it either.
    Love that coin story.

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