Passing On Family Jewels
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The chain of how precious heirlooms are handed down is an interesting thing. I have some items that belonged to my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and even my great-great-grandparents. I have clocks and vases and bonnets and aprons. I have Bibles and books and diaries. I imagine passing these along to my own daughter, along with some of my favorite things from my life. I imagine her passing them along to her children and so on.
But, sometimes the chain misses a link. Then what?
I have a jewelry bag full of amazing pieces that belonged to my step-father and his family. I have a pocket watch and class rings and cameos and cufflinks. My step-father did have one son and a one grandchild and one great-grandchild, but somehow these items came to me when he realized how little they wanted to do with him even in his dying days. I did not know the people who gave the items to him. I did not know his mother or his grandmother. The jewelry means something to me, but my daughter was only 9 months when my step-father died and she has no emotional connection to him.
Is the magic in these items lost? Will they live on to mean nothing to anyone? I feel a sort of guilt over it. I feel a responsibility to make them matter. So, I went to my mother and we talked about it and I asked if it would be alright to send these things to my step-father’s niece, who loved him dearly and still writes my mother and who is named after her grandmother whose cameo I have in my jewelry box.
I think this is the way I am going to go and it takes a great burden off my heart.
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