This morning I was doing some bookkeeping duties entering expenses into my accounting software. Among the pile of receipts, I came across an entry ticket to the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. Undoubtedly, I saved this ticket from mine and Kyanna’s December, 2016 trip because I wanted to add it to my baby box. Yes, I’m nearly 48-years-old and I still add things to the box of momentos my mother started in 1969. 

I sometimes have a hard time with separation anxiety of things. I develop emotional attachments to weird, simple things. But don’t worry, not stuff like milk jugs, used fast food containers and old newspapers!

[Tweet “Will Social Media Replace Heirlooms?”]

In the event of my death, I want Kyanna to be reminded of this trip we took together. Also, I couldn’t throw the ticket away because the trip meant so much to me. That’s the best way I can describe my emotional attachments to “things” that I feel tell my story and will someday preserve my legacy. For me, it is sometimes impossible to throw something away as simple as an entry ticket.

Will Social Media Replace Heirlooms?

I began this tendency to hoard things after the deaths of my sister in 1984, and my mom exactly six years and two days later. Very early in life, I learned that life is short and unpredictable and painful. I also learned that time has an adverse way of letting you forget important things… like the sound of my mother’s voice when she would wake me for school, what our family would discuss at the dinner table, or what we would laugh about… I don’t remember laughing much. I want to remember as many details and preserve as many memories for my two daughters as possible… so I save things and I take pictures. My attic is filled with lockets of hair, lost teeth, tiny shoes, prom dresses, entry tickets, notes… written both in love and in anger, ribbons, tshirts, report cards, certificates, posters, get-well and holiday cards, hospital wrist bands, and the list goes on. It’s a museum of sorts filled with artifacts dating back to 1951 when my mother was born. 

What I am probably doing is only creating a mess for my daughters to sort through when I die.

Right after I decided to keep the entry ticket, I began to wonder… will social media replace my baby box? Will people end the tradition of saving tangible, meaningful pieces of their lives because everything, literally everything, is online for the world to see? Will my digital footprint be more important than my baby box for my children when I pass on? 

What do you think? Do you save things in an effort to preserve your family’s history? If so, what weird things do you save? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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