How many kids go off to college, only to come home for the holidays to find their mother "cleaned" their room, tossed Farah Fawcett's wall art, and most of their really good stuff? My children's grandfather went to his grave bemoaning the treasures his mother tossed while he was defending his country. It ain't fair.
Boys of a certain age, were great collectors of the Wes Wilson designed Fillmore Auditorium posters in the mid '60's. I lived 2000 miles from San Francisco, and had a bunch. Every head shop in the US sold them for a buck or so. Tickets to the shows were less than $5. Ticketmaster wasn't even a dream. Gone, every last one, without even get a chance to say goodbye.
Today, original posters will sell for thousands. Copies near $50.
So mommas, a little respect. Clean their space if you must, but box it up, save it with the same love it was collected. Don't toss a lifetimes treasures. No toy soldiers, no toy cars, bikes, buttons or medals, especially stuff you don't like. Do and your kids will hate you.
Toad
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Mothers do it to daughters too! Problem is we have a six bedroom house for the two of us because the rest is filled with the children's things! The law should be...when you get married you take it with you!!!
Oh, how we all go back and think about the "junk" we tossed.
Pick up a vintage poster at this great estate sale in Upstate NY
where I will be in the front row...check out the catalogue here:
http://empressoftheeye.blogspot.com/2010/08/going-going-gonea-decorators-delight.html
Always a great post!
Hot Wheels, GI Joe, Major Matt Mason, Moon McDare, Johnny West, Matchbox Cars, at least a thousand toy soldiers. My GI Joe stuff alone would be worth a few thousand bucks. My sister and I spent a couple of hours on ebay when I was home last month...we gandered at all the stuff we had when we were kids. Alas.
Funny that you guys are mentioning your treasures' potential dollar value. At first I thought, "If they love it so much, why would they sell it." Then I realized, you have no interest in selling it, you're just confirming the initial wisdom of your investment. So they'll stay, the cars and the cards - oh, Lord, the baseball cards.
Mrs. Blandings....YES...you must keep these things. My buddy REB, who I wrote the tribute about after he died, sold ONE Donald Duck comic book from his childhood and paid for his entire family's airfare -six tickets- to London one time.
Then they grow up and have to battle their wives! Perhaps if these boys would keep their 'stuff' tidy and organized the women in their lives wouldn't be so compelled to clear it all out :O)
Tho I have to admit I resent a few of the things my mother threw out when I was little...I had an original Fonzi doll with the lever at the back to make his thumb go up. I bet that would be worth a pretty penny now!
I guess this explains that little sports/card shop in upstate NY named,
"My Momma threw it away!"
Good to know...:)
I'm starting to think that I would part with my entire collection to see; Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Nico, and Frank Zappa all on the same stage.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with throwing out a boy's treasures, but it reminded me of my mother's treasures so bear with me. My mother has been dead for almost 25 years but I felt her presence this day not too long ago.
Don't know if this will stick. You never know what will make an impression with kids, but rather than beat them over the heads with something, I tried a more subtle approach.
One of my brothers recently sent a box of items our mother had saved...pictures of our son when he was a teenager, some of his report cards (4 A's, 2 B's) a newspaper clipping I had sent to her of the honor roll students, and surely every thank you card he ever wrote to her. These were her treasures. Our son is now 47.
As he and I sat and looked through everything, especially those photos of him with really long hair (oh boy the battles his dad and I had over the length of his hair!), his teenage daughter came into the room and was naturally curious about what we were doing. Stunned silence..."You were on the honor roll in high school, Dad?" Hopefully, the other lesson might be: the importance of writing a thank you note.
Mothers do this through carelessness or absence of mind.
Step-mothers do it for entirely different reasons.
(I haven't watched baseball in years, but on some level I still miss having those Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio cards. I miss those early records by Howlin' Wolf and Little Richard. Etc. But I only get really angry when I start to miss my baseball glove...)
Oh Toad!! Whoa is me. I used to cook for the Grateful Dead when they came to Duke. I loved them, the hysterical roadies and Candace the lights and sound board girl, who I think still tours with some of the spin off's. Their cook used to call me to take him shopping and cook with them when they were around--Bernie Chosis (called Si). They invited me back stage all the time, and we really had fun. I met Bill Graham before his sad demise at Winterland on New Years Eve. He was great!You should have hidden them from your dear Mother!! "They're Gone..They're Gone..and nothing's gonna bring em back." Thanks for the memories. Did you think of good old Jerry on 8/09/10? Liz
Went to a gun show once, and right inside the door was this huge GI Joe exhibit/buy/sell/trade (pretty well attended). Sign said "Old soldiers never die...your Mom throws them away"
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