What are the most sentimental items to you and why?

These are important to me as gifts from my sister who passed away a few weeks ago. She gave them to me when I was 8 or something, and I’m 36 now. They are supposed to be for good luck & improved studies.

The stuff from before I was physically disabled by cars while commuting. Mostly my bicycle racing stuff. My skills matter to me a lot, so like when people appreciate or recall them and ask me stuff about them, even when I do not have the ability to do them any more, I get sentimental.

One time I found the most circular rock I'd ever seen. About 2.5" wide, 1/2" thick, smoothly worn by the ocean. It was a pale gray rock with dark speckled pits. It was like a cartoon moon. I took it from the beach, intending to keep it as a souvenir of the trip. It never made it. It was accidentally thrown out in the chaos of leaving a hotel.

I stole that rock from it's ocean view home and sent it to a landfill. It was just a rock and it tears me up unnecessarily.

I have a steel spoon, that my parents got by sending away cereal box tops or baby food lids or something like that. It's engraved, and says in my native language, "ℕ𝔼𝕄𝕆 𝔻𝕀𝔻 𝕀𝕋", in that exact font (which is why I use it for my display name).

Thry fed me baby food with it. I ate my breakfast cereal with it every day as a child and teen. I still eat with it whenever I need a spoon.

My dad's pool stick.

He struggled with addiction until the end. In the depths of alcoholism when he was selling everything to have money for it, he didn't sell that. Even after the pool table was gone, he had no home, no money for food... Never sold it.

I'll never part with it. It's the thing that reminded him of what he had at one point. The life. The Business. The family.

I have my great grandmother's tea kettle. One of my earliest memories was at her house using it to fill the bird bath in her garden. I used it regularly until it developed a leak. Now it just sits on a shelf in my office.

3 homemade tractors that my mom's uncle made before he died (IIRC in 1984). 1.5, 3, and 12 horsepower, so not really useful machines for any work, but they have meaning. If anyone comes across a "Pearl" tractor let me know, there are about a dozen out there (if not scrapped) that he made and I want the rest.

My polaroid photo album because it has pictures of people, pets, lived experiences that made me happy when I was struggling with life.

And my Lord of the Rings Medal that I received when completing a work-out challenge from a company called The Conqueror Challenge. I was going through a breakup and was dealing with depression that time; depression made me rot in bed all day with no motivation to do anything. But I still needed to get my body moving, so I paid the company $50 to help me motivate me to work out because I wanted the medal; it has a really nice design and I'm a LOTR fan. Now, I view the medal as resilience.

Just one? Hmm. Plaid flannel pyjama bottoms that used to be a friend's, but who lost her battle to against cancer years ago. They're comfy AF, and the perfect ingredient to any day off, just like she was.

I'm a hoarder who refuses to buy more stuff because I can't bear to part with the stuff I've got. So all of it, I guess?

But if you want a simpler answer, there are a couple of old stuffed animals that I'd mourn as much as I would a living pet, so probably those. They're a lot lower maintenance than an actual pet though, which is a big plus.

Actually I can think of a few things that I don't want, but they need to be disposed of properly (broken electrical; dead batteries) and I don't really have the means to do that.

Stuffed animal i got as a gift bought from the hospital when born is basically just a head now planning on sewing out onto another stuffed animals body.

Old cassettes. Pretty much just boring dad rock but I enjoy their shitty sound and I had them since I was a teen with a walkman trying to find inventive ways to smuggle my music in to class. Also one is a Finnish metal band that I have no idea how it made it to the 2nd hand music store in a flyover state where I bought it

My Leatherman Wave and my olive green Shemagh scarf are both close to 20 years old now so would be quite a bummer to lose either one of them. The Leatherman already almost got stolen once.

I've got a plush doggie that my grandmother gave me when I was around 3, he never left me, still got him at 38 years old. His eyes were changed along the years as I kept on losing them, but it's still a reminder of all those years and of her. He sits on the shelf in front of my bed, so even know he's always watching me

My grandfather's chess set he used to teach me chess. My grandmother's piece of coloured glass she kept on her fireplace mantle. The key to my first car, which I drove for 16 years before a tree fell on it during an overnight ice storm. My access badge to the old World Trade Center from 2000. My kids' first baby teeth.

I have an old tie from my late grandfather, that was part of his uniform while working for the railways. My entire family is basically a rail family, as I'm the third or even forth generation working for the railways. At that time, working for the railways was deemed prestigeous, it gave you a status and a sense of pride and public duty. Since my grandfather played without a doubt the most influential role in my life and shaping me as I am today, being the only person in the world always there for me, unconditionally, this tie is something I have to remember him, and also kind of a passed legacy for me to continue towards our shared professional passion...

Fuck it, I'm literally sobbing right now...

My grandfather's scarf. He passed away in 2022 on Christmas Eve. I wasn't very close to him, he had dementia for my entire life but I feel closer to him when I wear it. I freaked this week because I brought to a party and forgot about when I left but it was still there and somebody put it respectively on a hanger.

I don't really have one. I moved countries a coupe years ago and did a very good purge on things I didn't actually need.

I don't generally get sentimental about stuff exactly. we lost virtually all our stuff in a fire once though, and going without stuff made me appreciate all of it a lot more. I sometimes find myself being really glad for my dollar tree pencil holders and other things just because they're useful and I really like the color. I often think about how glad I am to have a bed. I hope I never lose this appreciation.

My PC. I built it and spend so many enjoyable hours gaming with it. If my apartment was on fire, it would be first on my list of rescue, followed by my g/f's cat, then my g/f.

The last vestige of my sanity.

There is a small box I have with sentimental things on it.

Inside, off the top of my head are as follows:

• Several movie theater tickets, recounting the moments I've been with friends and including one sole ticket where I had gone alone as a small victory for myself for not relying on friends to see a movie.
• High School Indoor and Outdoor tickets for graduation, obvious purpose.
• A 3D-Printed chip from a tech convention I attended, this holds some significance to me as it was the first time I've seen the early stages of 3D-Printing in person.
• The Graduation tassel with year charm.
• Several Digimon/Pokemon/FFVII-TTCG cards.
• Several exchanged notes with a middle-school teacher I had the hots for when I was working the same school she was.
• An original copy of one of my high school schedules.
• Few greeting cards, including one that could very well be the last from my grandpa who is due to pass away at somepoint.

A corner hutch from my great-grandmother.

A first edition "From here to Eternity" that I found in the corner hutch while visiting my great-grandmother.

A set of hand drawn and colored fashion drawings the previous owner of my great-grandmother's house did that I found in her attic when I was playing up there as a kid.

Grandfather's handmade metal spoon and chop sticks that he made in Korea during the war.

Louisville Stoneware Marine Corps decanter and cup set the my grandfather gave my parents when they got married.

My first Leatherman.

A small yellow teddy bear wearing a bib that says "My First Bear" that my aunt gave me when I was born.

And the list goes on. A majority of what decorates my abode that isn't LEGO's is sentimental stuff.

An M1911A1 used in world war two. My grandfather passed it down to me before he died. He wasn't the one using it, he was too young. But, it was given to him by a client as a form of payment (legally). He treasured it and eventually gave it to me. I don't shoot it much but I do like to clean it. Eventually I'll get a cool display with lights and stuff. It's cool, a combination of sentimental value and historical relevance. I'll never sell it and if I have kids I'll pass it down.