I always knew that my father that raised me wasn’t my biological father but I never felt the need to search out the lengths of my family tree. Why did I need to do that anyway? I had all the basics covered: Mom, Dad, two sisters, Grandpas, Grandmas, and plenty of aunts and uncles. Well thanks to the marvelous "Facebook" I recently made contact with my half sister. Now I have always known she existed and seen her a few times through the years but somehow this time it was a little different. We began developing quite a deep relationship really quite quickly. Well before I knew it I was being invited to extended family reunions.

Well it was at one of these reunions I was re-united to my biological fathers sister my aunt and her husband. I very quickly became fond of these new almost parent like figures. My wife and I even ended up living with them for a few months during a transition. I was quite hesitant to do this at first; after all I didn’t want us to end up hating each other right out of the gates of our newfound relationships. However contrary to my fears, we never ended up regretting it and I think we all came out on the other side being glad that it had happened and enjoying the opportunity to get to know each other better.

Well the other day I was back visiting my newfound aunt and uncle and we began digging through my Grandmothers old cedar chest. We found some old photos of my father; my grandmothers wedding dress, and buried way down deep in the bottom a small pair of children’s mittens. My uncle began to share with us about how his grandfather had knitted these small pare of "mitts" as he called them for him when he was just a boy. I found this incredibly intriguing, no not that a grown man would knit a pair of mittens, but more how this simple pare of mittens had such a profound effect on this man some 60 years later. You see I guess you could say some folks would consider my uncle a little rough around the edges, but this small pare of children’s mittens had turned back the hands of time and quickly softened his rough exterior.

My hope from this article is that many would realize the effect that the items that we have collected along the way can have a profound affect on our lives, not only when we first get them but also quite possibly many years later down the road, that is if we take proper care of them. I would always encourage everyone to store these types of items away somewhere safe. For today we may just see them as simple items lying around the house that could be mistaken for junk, but may someday be priceless memorabilia.