When I was a child I didn't have a ton of toys and personal items, because we didn't have a lot of money. It was nothing compared to the over abundance my children seem to have today. But what I did have I took care of and I saved. As a 44 year old adult I have dragged around two boxes of things I saved from my childhood. They range from items I saved from kindergarten all the way through high school prom. What I saved all these things for I never really knew, but it's beginning to make more sense to me.

A few years ago I opened up those boxes and showed some of the things to my kids. They both wanted items from the box. After all, some of the things were toys in mint condition. Toys that I cherished but didn't play with much because I didn't want to ruin them. My daughter found some jewelry of mine she wanted. A necklace and ring set that I wore for my kindergarten pictures. A silver bracelet with a heart that was inscribed "Jacquie" on it (a birthday gift from my mother). A doll my mother had bought me because she thought it looked like me. At first my reaction was to say no, because I was saving these things. Then I changed my mind and decided it was a better idea to let them enjoy these things. After all, I couldn't come to an idea of what it was I was saving the things for anyway.

My daughter ended up losing the jewelry not long after I gave it to her, unfortunately (if anyone has seen the bracelet I'd love to get it back). But she does still have the doll. My son took interest in my old baseball glove, the one I had used playing Little League as a child. He loved it, and I gave it to him. Little did I know when I handed it to him that it wouldn't just collect dust in his closet.

My son plays rookie baseball and he only uses the mitt that used to be mine. As a child, my mother wrote my name on the mitt. I wrote his name on it, too. He loves the mitt, uses it for every game, and tells me that he's saving it for his child to someday use, and he'll add that child's name to it.

According to the dictionary, an heirloom is a valuable object that is owned by a family for many years and passed from one generation to another.

This baseball mitt has become an unplanned heirloom. He knows that it is special to me. Not only because it's the mitt that I used at his age, but because my beloved grandfather helped me oil and break it in, and it's the mitt I wore when he played catch with me in the yard. At the time, I had no idea why I saved the baseball mitt, but today I'm glad that I did. Seeing him play with it warms my heart and makes me think of my own memories with it. He's a much better baseball player than I ever was by a long shot, but sharing the mitt is one thing we'll always have together.

You just never know what will become a family heirloom, and sometimes your child may even take the lead and helping to turn something into one. And that, my friends, is a pleasant surprise that makes saving (and sharing) those childhood trinkets well worth the effort.

- Jacqueline Bodnar