The Oldest Thing
What's the oldest thing you still have that you got when it was new? (Spouses, children, and Galapagos land tortoises don't count for purposes of this exercise.)
I haven't performed a rigorous search through all of my worldly possessions, but the thing that most likely fits the bill is a Bible I received for my birthday in 1960. It's a King James Version -- there weren't a lot of alternatives back then -- and it bears various penciled notes in my handwriting, most of which are explicable but a few, like the one that says "Leviticus 14: How to cleanse lepers," are of mysterious significance. (Did I make a special note of that chapter, just in case I found myself trapped in a leper colony? Nothing like being prepared, I guess.) The Bible also has one of those inter-testament sections for recording significant family events: births, marriages; it even has a little fill-in-the-blank family tree page. The only things I felt were significant enough to be recorded were my own birthday (just in case I forgot), and that of my younger brother (probably so that I could remember to forget). The Bible's cover is ragged, and the rarely used, having been displaced by easier to understand (and more rugged) versions.
I suppose this exercise should be a reminder of fleeting value of material possessions, but it's also a reminder of the priceless nature of the memories such possessions can evoke. I'd like to live a simpler, less cluttered life, but taking inventory like this is proof that not all clutter is created equal.
Patti, that's neat. I think the oldest apparel I have are the shoes I wore at my wedding in 1973. I would have felt right at home in any fine disco.
I'm guessing your socks are about 20 years old. I've got underwear older than that. ;-)
Posted by: Eric at March 1, 2007 12:05 PMI have the baby blanket my mother crocheted for me. She would add more material around it over the years, so now it is a fairly large throw blanket. And I still use it. (That makes it 30 years old.)
Posted by: Phelps at March 1, 2007 01:32 PMPhelps, you don't strike me as a binkie kind of guy. ;-)
Posted by: Eric at March 1, 2007 02:23 PMI have a Crookes radiometer I purchased while on my 6th grade field trip to the Dallas Museum of Natural History. My girls think it’s really cool, my wife says get it out of the living room, people can see it. That was 33 years ago and it still spins.
Jon, that's pretty cool. According to Wikipedia, it is still manufactured and sold to this day as a curiosity item. Perhaps your wife will have a different perspective knowing this.
Posted by: Eric at March 1, 2007 02:46 PMIt's kinda sad that I can't dredge up anything older than this, but I still have a ring I made in jewelry class back in either '79 or '80 at PHS.
Posted by: Rob O. at March 2, 2007 06:30 AMRob, this exercise is obviously skewed in favor of those of us who are relatively long in the tooth (a euphemism for being older than dirt).
Posted by: Eric at March 2, 2007 06:53 AMAbout the publisher
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I still have the socks that I wore when I gave birth to my son (C-section). I have older stuff still, but that's what came to mind first.
Posted by: Patti at March 1, 2007 10:14 AM