This one is really hard. Even the things I have been thinking about are things that if I were to insure them could be replaced with something of equal value and would mean almost as much after a while. The things I use every day like my boots, my car, my house, in and of themselves are mostly important because I need them. If something happened to my car and I were given the money to replace it, I would be fine. I really like my car and I’ve had it a long time, but another one would serve the purpose.

My beloved coffee cup would be missed, but it could be replaced. I suppose there are a few things that have strong emotional attatchements associated with them that could not be replaced.

1. My Mom’s old scrabble set: We grew up with this, and there’s likely 25 years worth of games on this one. Mom got a new one for Christmas a few years ago, and I asked for the old one.

2. My Dad’s violin. Dad passed away when I was a baby, and this is one of the few things that were his. I don’t know that much about my dad, and there are a lot of mixed feelings in the family about him. From Mom, I know that he loved music and played this violin all the time, at home and at the dances in town. There are places where the varnish is all worn off, and the old rosin that came with it is nearly worn through from the thousands of times it was used to condition the bow. I don’t play it, but I can imagine that this is the one wholly positive part of my dad that would be worth keeping.

3. The pieces of hair kept from horses that have passed away.

4. My photos.

5. My wedding ring and engagement ring.

6. The letters I have from friends and family.

7. The ring I made completely from scratch, from cutting and polishing the stone, designing the shape, making the setting for the stone, soldering it all together with the band, all of the final cleaning and polishing. I’m very proud of it, and likely won’t get the opportunity to do that again. I worked with a silver/gold smith for about 2 years and made a couple of things for myself and my Mom, and did a bunch of work for her. Her hands bothered her a lot, so she told me what to do and I did it for her.

8. My copy of “Good Omens” that is signed by Neil Gaimon. I went to see him in Salt Lake City at the opening of their new big library. He’s an excellent writer with an incredible voice who has been one of my favorite writers for years. I nearly peed myself when my friend invited me to go see him.

9. A gorgeous painting we bought in Wyoming by a local artist. It won first at the art show (proceeds to support the wild horses). I may not ever get a chance to do that again!

10. A sword a lover made for me. It is kind of odd, made out of a drive shaft for the handle and some scrap metal for the blade. The relationship between us was something I’ll never understand. I loved him madly for about 10 years, and sometimes it seemed like he loved me, sometimes not. I don’t really know how he felt about me, if he did love me and was too terrified to make a commitment, or if it was all in my head. I did finally end things to be with my husband. I’m glad I did, but this sword is something that shows that this other man may have cared, and even if he had issues to big to resolve, he tried.

These are material things, and I considered non-material things like love, peace, freedom, etc. I figured that the point of the excercise was to talk about objects.