This is so touching and so true.
When I was younger, I remember drawing pictures at my great aunts farmhouse. She lived way out of town and there wasnt much else to do so we always grabbed the crayons and kept ourselves busy.
When she died, her sister came accross a large box in the back of her closet. Inside the box was every card we had given and every picture we had ever drawn for her. My aunt had even gone as far as dating and writing our names on the upper right hand corner of each picture. I couldnt believe that she had actually saved pictures these pictures for over 20 years. This one I drew for her in June of 1982, so that would have made me about 11 years old at the time. When my sister and I recieved these, we were in tears for hours.
My grandparents didnt have alot of money and they also saved things that we had bought or made them. When they passed away, everyone was told to take everything that they had ever given to them, before the rest was divided up amongst the children.
Looking though my grandmothers jewelry box, I found an old sterling silver heart locket I had given her years before. I opened it up and noticed that she had inserted my childrens picture inside. I could have died. She had many grandchildren so it was very touching to know that she actually remembered that I had given her the locket, then to see my childrens photo inside was something I cant even put into words.
A couple of years later, we were running out he door to get the kids Christmas pictures taken. My daughter asked if she could borrow a necklace since she had a plain white sweater on. We were in a hurry so I went to start the car and told her to just grab something out of my jewelry box. It wasnt until we got to the studio that I noticed she was wearing the locket. Well, Im sure you can imagine what a wreck I was for these pictures. It took everything in me to keep from bawling as she posed for this pic.
You are right Amanda. Those little things can mean a whole lot someday.