Andrew Huff / March 12, 2009 12:05 AM

We had a similar question back in 2004. If you were around for that one, well, bless you.

Carrie / March 12, 2009 12:28 AM

My bear I've had since I was 1. He's a Pooh Bear (Poobie...PB...Pooh) The only reason I stopped sleeping with him a year/year and a half ago was because I was scared (maybe had nightmares) that his delicate arms would fall off during the night.

Of course there is jewelry and 2 cats that I LOVE, but as much as I love my jewelry, I feel I could find a replacement and cats I don't really think of as possessions... more family. I can't quite put into words right now, but hopefully animal lovers will get it and those who don't will wait for a better explanation... I think the girls would be able to save themselves...

Steven / March 12, 2009 12:49 AM

Spugi Tommaso Umberto Donato di Savoia and Bonaparte Ugo Tito Timoteo di Bourbon, my iggies. I like my stuff but I love my dogs.

HOP / March 12, 2009 9:36 AM

My grandmother's engagement ring. It was given to me when she died in 1995 and I started wearing it daily about five years later. Now I never take it off. I know that I would be inconsolable if I ever lost it.

Spence / March 12, 2009 10:34 AM

A late 19th-century German Imperial Officer's Sword (that my late grandfather brought home from WWII), three birdhouses built by my grandfather, and photographs (both digital and film) and the hard-drives they are stored in. If my apartment was burning and had to choose, I would leave everything except my two external hard-drives and photo albums.

A. Lewellen / March 12, 2009 10:50 AM

I have more possessions now than I have ever had at any point in my life and although many of them are useful and serve their respective purposes well, I find I don't prize any of them much. I don't own one single artifact from my child hood unlike my wife who has favorite blankets, Cabbage patch dolls and the like from her earliest days, which for the first time as an adult made me realize I had no such items myself. I'm not exactly sure why this is the case. Why I don't prize thing I now own, or why I have nothing tangible to link me to my past. But to answer the question, in as much as it is possible to "posses" them I really cherish my kids. It is scary how much you can love your own children. I don't think it is all vanity either, you know, having a little version of yourself running around. I think it is more the depth of intimacy you get when you get to be with a person (very small but a person none the less) from the very moment they begin their life and all the subsequent seemingly inconsequential moments thereafter that just draw you in until your completely smitten. So yeah, my kids and this one cast iron skillet.

eee / March 12, 2009 10:51 AM

My cat's not really a possession -- like Carrie said, pets are family -- but she'd be my first thought. (My husband could undoubtedly take care of himself. No worries there.)

Other than the cat, it would either be Pinky, my teddy bear since birth, with a stuffed toy owl coming in after that. My aunt bought it for me when I was a child, and she died a year or so later. It triggers my strongest memory of her, and is irreplacable to me.

DaveDave / March 12, 2009 10:51 AM

Some weird ring I found. It's supposed to rule them all, or something like that.

annie / March 12, 2009 11:04 AM

A letter my dad wrote to my mom the day I was born. It's ripped from a steno pad and he wrote in red ink and it wasn't exactly thought out, it rambles and it's sincere and it makes me choke up every time I read it. He passed away 19 years ago, but I look at it everyday, it's framed on our book shelf. I rarely read it, but I like seeing it there. In case of an emergency, it would be the first thing I would grab. ( I think my dogs would know enough to run out of the place.)

irisheyes1212 / March 12, 2009 11:05 AM

Kitties of course but they possess me, not the other way around.

Orangeish/brownish plastic cup. I used to drink rootbeer out of it with my grandpa when he would come home from his police job. He would drink a beer with gin shooters. I would drink rootbeer and cream soda shooters.
I also have a set of cork/wood coasters that have a little holder that looks like a cage. My grandma loved those.
When they both passed those were the only things I wanted :)

jennifer / March 12, 2009 11:31 AM

in 2004, I said my cats, but they don't really count as possessions. this time i'll go with my jay ryan poster collection.

G. Maitland / March 12, 2009 11:43 AM

My feelings towards my son are my most precious possession. These feelings are intangible, and yet they manifest themselves in most aspects of my daily behavior & activity.

I also would refrain from saying children are a possession, but once you become a parent, everything else just becomes stuff.

DaveDave / March 12, 2009 12:10 PM

But seriously...

I don't think I have any item that is "precious" to me. I've lost a lot of stuff over the years... sports cards from when I was a kid that had great sentimental value, albums that were rare and while not totally valuable were important milestone-markers to me, important docments I've written that took me sometimes years to write and were gone with one computer glitch. Posters, jewelry, etc. While they seemed like major losses at the time, over the years I learned to say, "eh". The memories were more important.

Spook / March 12, 2009 2:34 PM

O.K. I won't list my dog

a Grundig shortwave West German tube radio that my Grandfather brought back from France after WWII.
Between the warm and robust sound and its blue and soft yellow lights, listening to it makes me feel like he is with me.

All my books

A four foot( and growing) cactus

Leah / March 12, 2009 3:02 PM

Definitely my laptop which contains all my photos.

In my demented mind if I don't have photographic evidence of having seen something or having been some where, it never happened. This would pose enormous problems for me if lost.

Luke / March 12, 2009 3:33 PM

I have a 1930's watch, which was given to my late uncle when he served in Germany in the 60's. He died before I was born, but the watch was given to my mom, who then used it to time her contractions when she had me. She died just over 5 years ago and my dad gave it to me. It wasn't working, so I paid a ton to get it working and found out it's actually worth several thousand dollars, not that I would ever sell it.

spence / March 12, 2009 5:18 PM

In both this and the 2004 thread, it's interesting to read the entries where people are grappling with calling their pet(s) possessions.

Bill Guerriero / March 12, 2009 6:59 PM

My camera and my bicycle are most precious. I think you can change the world with a camera and a bicycle.

Steven / March 12, 2009 7:19 PM

My dogs -- and any Italian greyhounds -- are obviously possessed, so I have no problem calling them possessions.

Sara / March 13, 2009 4:44 AM

A ring passed down from my great grandmother. I wear it every day. It has her mother and mother-in-law's engagement stones in it on either side of hers. It's the only thing I have that has that much history in it.

Mimi / March 13, 2009 7:39 AM

Like HOP, my most precious possession is my great-grandmother's wedding ring. It's a very small, simple depression-era diamond band. I wear it nearly every day. It reminds me of her and the wonderful 55 years she and my great-grandfather had together.

michi / March 13, 2009 9:24 AM

Hm. You'd think i would say 'my violin,' but I've already had two stolen from me and I didn't kill anyone. yet.

printdude / March 13, 2009 9:47 AM

My slim grip on reality

Spook / March 13, 2009 10:01 AM

Luke, I had to get my Grandfather's radio repaired! No one thought it was possible. As if I was just suppose to admire a silent broken radio!

But I finally found( after a year of searching) this very tall German dude with a heavy voice who repaired old radios as a hobby.

Interestingly enough, he was not that far from Logan Square, on Belmont around Central Park.

I remember when I told him about it on the phone, he cut me off with a curt "I'm very busy, bring it in it you want"

He took forever and would not be rushed, but that Brotha got the job done.

He offered to buy it, but I said no because it was my Grandfathers. He then opened up and told me the long story of what it took to get the parts, including two tubes by contacting his cousin in Germany who after getting into a fist fight with him at thier uncle's funeral, he had not spoken to for 20 years

When he called his cousin, he found out that he was quote "deceased".
His cousin's father was able to get the parts.

It was expensive but I still tipped an extra twenty five ducats.

I was soooo happy to see my Grundig light up.

Luke / March 13, 2009 5:58 PM

Great story Spook! It was definitely worth every penny. I only wear the watch when I'm dressing up but I always get compliments and it's cool to have things with history.

My grandmother passed recently and she left me a mantle clock that goes way back in my family and hasn't worked for years. My mother-in-law took it to some guy on the south side who got it working for about a hundred bucks. Can't wait to get it back and hear it.

fluffy / March 13, 2009 8:25 PM

Mr M. He's the smartest cat ever. Some of my tools. Other than that, my health/mind and sense of humor.