Storyteller's Journey

Objects in our Lives, 
Objects in our Stories

As I continue to mourn the passing of my mother, I've found that I find comfort in looking at some of the objects she passed on to me. This old copy of the children's book, Heidi, is the actual book I first read as a child. My mom said, "this is the first big girl book you're going to read - take care of it." (It doesn't look like I heeded her instructions!)

Consequently, this book is one of my most prized possessions. It was given to my mom by her first-grade teacher, when my mom was in fifth grade, in 1945. Little did Emily Elfstrom realize at the time, that eighty years later Sheila's daughter would hold the book so close to her heart.

That's the thing about keepsake possessions; their true value is always given to them by the humans that own them. We cherish them for the memories they conjure up and the people they bring to mind, not for their monetary value. It's almost like they hold a bit of our loved ones within their substance. In a strange way, they're like J.K. Rowling's horcruxes, only in a super positive light.

When I first began to write my series, The Time Travel Tales of Livvi Biddle, I realized that I wanted to include special objects in my story for a similar reason. An antique locket, an old tome, and a sibylline scroll. Objects give an authenticity to our tales, especially if they're close to our protagonist. (If they're magical, all the better!)

This Japanese jewelry box is another object my mother gave to me. My father brought it back to Coronado, CA (where I was later born) from Okinawa when he was in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. My mother loved it.

Keepsake objects have a way of holding our loved ones near to us. 

What objects do you cherish?