My house is filled with "things" from my family. Pictures that my husband's grandmother painted (water color) when she was only 12 years old. His great aunt's music cabinet, still has her sheet music in it. A lot of my grandmothr's dishes and her Silverware. There is a quilt in my closet that Aunt Mary said was made before the civil war. It is ragged and I some day hope to study the pattern and "re-create" it for my DD and GD. Today I am meeting my youngest brother to open my mother's house for the first time since she passed away last June. I am bring her sewing machine home with me. She and I did a lot of sewing together and although she was a hard pill to deal with, sewing is one of the things she and I did share. This machine was purchased after I left home, but she called me to tell me of that purchase AND I know it was a very special and expensive purchase for her. I think she paid for it by sewing pillow covers for a company who had home sewers making their pillows. I KNOW my dad would have never given her money to buy it. Since I am the only one in the family who sews, I could not bear to see it sold and my DGD will love it when I'm gone and she will always remember the day we went to get it. I am so glad that this board is composed of folks who think in terms of family memories and treasurers.