Heirloom | Hacker News Reader

Heirloom

silashouseblog.blogspot.com

67 pointsmooreds12 comments

My grandfather is 92. I have a small number of relatives I fully expect will want more than their share, the things that may fetch some coin. I hear the more brazen ones 'Grandad, when you're gone, Grandma can't drive, what do you plan on doing with the car?'

I would dearly like to ask him for his harmonica. I remember sitting on his lap while he'd play Larry Adler tunes (he doesn't have the breath for it anymore). I don't think anyone else will care for it, something to go in a box to the thrift store I'm sure, but watching the looters plan their moments I can hardly bring myself to say anything, and so I'll just sit and make him another cup of tea.

Thanks for your story OP.

Just ask him. He'd probably be happier giving something to someone who wants it himself. My great aunt who's 93 won't stop giving me anything I show the slightest amount of interest in.

I agree. He'd probably be delighted just to hear

>> I remember sitting on his lap while he'd play Larry Adler tunes

If he doesnt play it anymore then its the right time to ask him for it - when people die the little things will indeed get lost, my grandfather promised the pistol he accidentally shot himself with to like ?6? people? (framed, with the newspaper article, the man was a fanatic about safety haha.)

Ask now. Ask to teach you to play. Just buried my father-in-law and we wish we had gone through his stuff when he was alive, but didn’t because we thought it was morbid. But it is one last opportunity to hear the stories behind the things.

Don’t wait. Call him now (unless he is sleeping)

My grandfather had an old-school windup watch that he thought would be his most cherished heirloom. Either my sister or I still have it somewhere (safe-deposit box), but it's never really resonated with any of his descendants.

He also had a beat-up metal whiskey flask from his time serving in the Canadian Army in World War I. This is a family treasure! The inner lining is corroded, so you can't drink from it, but it looks stunningly cool on a shelf. It evokes Lt. Fleming and the whole damn war in ways that let one's imagination run wild.

I kept it visible for many years, and when one of my sons wanted it as a keepsake, I said yes -- being able to tell from the way he asked that it would mean a lot to him, too.

In his essay, Silas House (OP) does a great job of highlighting the way that the best heirlooms don't have to be beautiful or costly. Often it's the simple reminders of everyday life that are most evocative to us. We see them -- and we see the hopes and troubles of an entire era gone by.

It's really amazing that his family has so many things that have stood the test of time. I've been thinking about how many things in my life are expressly designed to be cheap and disposable. Notably, how bad that is for the environment, how it empowers oppressive regimes to whom we outsource our pollution and pseudo-slave labor, etc. I try to find more things that are simple, robust, and which fill me with joy such that I'll hang onto them for a long time.

Yeah agreed. It’s something my wife and I have discussed a lot in the past few years esp. coming from families who actually worked with proper goods/materials. Working in/with software just doesn’t feel the same and like you, we have reached to similar conclusions and maybe, just maybe, if the stars align, in not so distant future, we kickstart the old family enterprise to build low volume, high quality products with guaranteed lifetime warranty (~20-30 years).

I take a little pleasure in the idea that our kids might discover some program I wrote when I was younger, and in doing so, maybe better understand the mind that made it.

Silas House is a true American treasure. I’m so glad that this made it to the Hacker News home page.

FTA:

> She's gone now, too, like all of the real elders in my family.

If we're lucky, someday we'll become the real elders of our families.

There are two senses of 'elder' worth unpacking.

1. The oldest remaining members of a family. In this case, all you have to do is survive. I have friends who are already in this place, having seen their parents, aunts, uncles and others pass on.

2. Provide family memory and wisdom to those who want it. Some of this you can do by recounting your experiences, but a lot is by learning about the more distant past, distilling it, and sharing that. For example, I haven't seen any stats on this, but most folks I know who are really into genealogy started later in life. This takes more effort and I imagine that this kind of 'elder' status isn't something everyone attains.

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