Heirlooms, possessions and memories

I had to finally get up and go through the things at my Dad's house. At first it is just too hard. You don't want to look at the items and think that they don't belong to your Dad anymore. But, eventually everyone has to do it. Some sooner than others.

The saddest thing I felt as I looked through them was that all these pictures and papers meant something to him. They meant something to him so much that he kept them for all these years. There were his baby pictures, his mothers baby book, his report cards from when he was in gradeschool. His lettermans jacket and numerous newspaper clippings that either he was in, or someone he knew was.

As you think about them they all have sentimental value. But, do you keep them? Do you add them to your attic so that one day your kids have to go through it all and decide the same thing? I couldn't figure it out. I know with being a military spouse, putting things in an attic isn't as easy as it sounds. So, the best thing I thought was to take pictures of many of the things I would get rid of. This way I can look back. Remember how silly my dad was to keep my halloween costumes from when I was a kid. But it helps me realize how important I was to him. How important his friends and his family were to him.

Here are some of the pictures with some descriptions to just help you, and I remember and get a sense of why something meant so much to him.

 My T-ball ball! 

 He loved John Wayne. When I was growing up my favorite movie was McClintock. He would watch every single John Wayne movie over and over. My dad watched few things. He loved westerns, war movies and sports.

Although he did love Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. He was so so good at Jeopardy. A few days before he passed we were watching it in his hospital room. Him and Alvie were yelling out answers and much to my surprise Alvie was REALLY good at it. I think my dad was really pleased about that. I am surprisedthey have a lot of similarities although so many differences. I'll always remember Jeopardy as being a favorite.

This article below is more about the war than my dad had ever told me. He didn't like to talk about it obviously. But, he would just tell me that the newer war movies do a really good depiction of what it was like. However, you will never be able to imagine the smell. The smell of rotting bodies and blood and just, war. 

 Senior night! ^^^ Probably the last picture I have of my mom dad and I all together at once. I know, I should have just taken the picture out to snap one lol.

 He was always keeping up with the people from his high school class. He went to EVERY single high school reunion. No matter how busy he was or in what stage of life, he was there. I went to quite a few of them growing up. He went to his 50th this last summer. Pretty cool.

 A note from his best friend. There were tons of notes and cards from BillJack from over the years. He is such an amazing guy and I was so happy he has always been there for my Dad.

 Tons and tons of Hats. But his favorite hats were his Texas Tech, VFW, Saddle n Spurs. Gilliland insurance ( BillJacks insurance company) and of coarse, his Dallas Cowboys hat.

Hard to imagine, but he was really good friends with the Binions. They were good people to my Dad and he worked for them for many many years. He was closest to Jack Binion, however I did receive a call from Brenda paying condolences to the family for our loss. Definitely some history! Brenda told me that my dad used to help them a lot with Ted when he was having a hard time. 

 Every single one of these ties and shirts gives me some type of memory. He was not a spender so he would only get new shirts when I would send him them. Its so sad to watch things like this go.

 This was from my Grandma's funeral. ^^ I thought this was actually pretty wonderful. Maybe lay off the caps tho!

 ^^ Honorary member. I never saw my dad ride a motorcycle. Although I'm sure he did a lot in his day!

 This is one thing I will never forget. My dad left little yellow sticky notes all over the place. There was always things written on them. I must have found a hundred of them. Book titles, places to go eat, recipes. Everything. But this one ^^ is my favorite. It was on his cabinet in Las Vegas right after Stella was born. He must have moved it here and brought it all the way from Vegas. I loved seeing this.

It's sad watching things go. One day they are precious memories and heirlooms to a person. But when that person is gone, the memories aren't the same, the possessions aren't as prized and many times are looked at as junk. I wish there was a way to preserve everything. But, I wasn't able to. I am just so thankful for the amazing memories I am left with.

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Heirlooms, possessions and memories