Sad to see personal inscriptions in books in used book stores. & photo albums.

[UTUSN]

The first time I saw an "abandoned" book inscription, it was, I think, "The Golden Bough," with the portentous message, something like, "This book will change your life profoundly..." And there it was in a pile of discarded things.

Then there was a biography of TCHAIKOVSKY, "To (Italian male name) My Italian Brother. I hope you enjoy this book as you enjoy his music. (signed, male name)" The book is brand new, never a page turned in it.


Then in second hand "antique" places, albums, way back, with groups of families and friends, in fur collar coats and Model Ts and nary a name inside. Just there on a table, for sale. They lived, laughed, and loved.

Sad. My mother had a saying, "Things go out of fashion. Even people go out of fashion."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Nothing like being Executor of your mother's estate to teach you about "stuff."

Fourteen months of my life. Back and forth with the attorneys as the legendary California Probate process limped along, inch by inch.

My sister asking every day for fourteen months, "Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my money Where's my MONEY?"

And then there was the stuff.

Carefully collected over decades, treasured, all of these special items that now added up to a mountain of STUFF that I had no room for. It got divided up among family members, donated...

...like Bob Dylan once sang "When you got nothin', you got nothin' to lose."

And yeah, I do see the irony of a multi-millionaire who probably has a lot more than "nothin'" singing those words, but he's right.

"Stuff"...no matter what kind of "value" we may attach to it...puts a ball and chain around your neck and tosses you in the lake.

[Arugula Latte]

7. I agree ... the stuff just pulls you down.

"Hoarders" is just the extreme of an issue we all grapple with. What to do with it all? ... Keeping stuff sometimes just puts a big burden on the next generation.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I also think it's sad. I have become the repository for family's heirlooms. They only go back to the

1800's, but I have those things from my great, great grandmother and others.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I agree. I've seen instances of that, too.

It's as if the owners of these keepsakes just weren't important enough to anyone, or what was meant to be a keepsake was rejected. ;(

I actually have a wedding photo that a friend bought for me at an antique store. I would guess it's from the '30s, but I can't be sure. I have no idea who the people are and I will never know. It's a lovely photo, but it makes me sad, wondering how this valuable keepsake came to be abandoned. If it was of my grandparents or great grandparents, I'd give most anything to have it. ;(

[gratuitous]

4. The most important things in life

Aren't things.

[Lars39]

5. The worst I've seen are baby photo albums.

Who in the heck gets rid of baby photos?

[Brickbat]

6. Oh, I love finding books with inscriptions. I love buying old books that have been well-loved and

bringing them into my home. I often buy books FOR the inscriptions. I bought a copy of "Norma Kent of the WACs" simply because it was well-read and the inscription was "For Ardyth with love from Grandpa." I love thinking about the grandpa who picked that out for a young girl who read it again and again.

[Tikki]

8. Know what I have of my friend who is gone now?

Dozens of his vinyl albums with his full name and assorted addresses printed
permanently on the back of the album covers.
Like little treasures..


Tikki

[trof]

9. Nobody inscribes gift books any more.

Well, few people do.
I always do.
I want friends and family to be able to remember the occasion when they received the book.

[MorningGlow]

10. Agree

Makes you wonder who those people were and what their lives were like. And did they sell those books, or did their family toss them when they died? So many questions.

My mom is a "purger"--she LOVES to divest herself of just about everything. Not a sentimental bone in her body. I had to threaten her with bodily harm if she sold my dad's 78s collection (big band music!) and she had NO IDEA why I was so protective of it.

Lately, with not much else to throw away, she's started tossing old photos from the '40s and '50s. I keep asking her why, and she says "I have no idea who these people are." She's not senile in the least--it's just that she was friends with them once and thought she'd always know them, never wrote names on the back, and now they're nobody to her. There's a lesson in there about the impermanence of everything, even friends, I think.