Could I Be Any Cooler?

The first thing I'll say is that even though my mom is a Depression baby and saves EVERYTHING in case it might be useful someday, I am not quite that bad. I have a tendency to toss a lot of stuff because I hate clutter. I've been saving more lately, due to the economy and our financial situation. I now hold onto Smart Balance containers and sour cream containers to store stuff in the fridge. But I'll be damned if I'll ever start saving used bread ties.

Livvie has become a giant fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I don't know what happened. I had turned on Disney one day, and she was hooked. So I had to start DVRing them. Is that even a verb yet? Her favorite episode involves a treasure hunt. It was full of rainbows and shapes.

This morning I saw her come out of her room with a zippered plush bag that had contained small toys. It's roughly shaped like a house. She told me it was her treasure chest. I said, "That's great! Good thinking!" and then something clicked in my head and I said, "Do you want a real treasure chest?"

When Rich owned the bait shop he sold fine cigars from a humidor. When we unloaded the place I held onto a Mantequilla Tapa Negra box. It is, in fact, a tiny wooden chest with a hinged lid and latches on the front. I remember thinking that dangerous thought, "This might be useful someday." And I stuffed it away for the future. Really hadn't thought about it since then.

So I went and got it and handed it to her. I flipped the lid open. And she literally squealed, "TREASURE CHEST!!!!" and started putting things in it. I was impressed with myself and went about my duties. And then she came to me a few minutes later and said, "Key?"

I sighed. And then I told her it didn't have a key. And then I told her to wait a second.

You see, I have a treasure chest too. When I was a kid it was a regular cigar box. When I grew up everything moved into one of those cheap jewelry boxes where you lift the lid and the drawers slide out. Some of my treasures are these:

A small ceramic heart pin with a rainbow and my name on it that my dad gave me when I was little.

The ID tag my dog Bailey wore when we lived in Cary.

The charge plate from the record store I worked in when I was in my late teens and early 20s. The store was bought out by a large chain, and I snagged the original plate from the trash.

Many, many concert and movie ticket stubs.

The ticket stub from the Phillies game my mom took me to on my 21st birthday because I wanted my first legal beer to be at a game.

Perfect skipping stones.

The tiniest acorn I ever saw.

Small, green seashells that had been punctured by gulls.

The pin that US Cellular gave me when I had been there one year.

Actual jewelry.

A band-less Fossil watch.

and

A tiny, silver cash register key that says MGR that I was allowed to keep when I left my favorite job ever and moved to NC.

So I got it out of there and gave it to Livvie and she was delighted that her treasure chest now has a key. She's been playing with it all morning, sticking "treasure" in there and getting it back out. I'm sure one day she'll need a larger box for everything that she keeps for nostalgia. Right now this is fine. Although it would be interesting later on to see what she chooses to hold onto, I would never go through her box unless I suspected something terrible was going on.

What types of treasure have you kept over the years? What do you store them in?