It’s possible I’ve been thinking too hard about this one. I think it may be because my idea of an heirloom is something ancient that you keep behind the glass in your china cabinet. You proudly point it out to guests, but no one touches it or uses it for fear of damaging it. I don't really have those sorts of heirlooms. What I do have are several lovely photos (some of them framed) that are well over 100 years old and a candy dish from an aunt I never met.
This framed, hand-tinted photograph is of my Great Grandma Thelma's confirmation some time in the early 1920's. She hangs in my dimly lit back hallway because I worry about her getting washed out by the sun.
This fraying cabinet card album is even older. While most of the subjects in the pictures remain unidentified (such as the ones pictured here), this book appears to be a collection of Great Grandma Thelma's in-laws. One of the photos I was able to identify is of my Great Grandpa Oscar's aunt, Pernilla (Svensdotter) Hanson. The photo is from approximately 1890. 134 years old qualifies it as an heirloom, right?
Finally, some years back, I made contact with a cousin I didn't know I had. Her mother was my grandfather's daughter from his first marriage. Carol and I visited back and forth for a couple of years (amazingly, she lives only an hour away) before she decided I needed something to 'remember' my Aunt Dolores Palermo who passed back in 1996.
This is one of Aunt Deee's (not a typo - apparently that's how she referred to herself) crystal candy dishes. It holds a place of honor on my entertainment center (I took it down to get a clear picture). It is not presently filled with candy, but I have occasionally used it for the purpose for which it was intended.
I maintain a hope that a younger member of my family will take an interest in these items and see the value in preserving them. It's what any heirloom deserves.
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