Fluther: Is there anything that you used to own, that you've gotten ...

Is there anything that you used to own, that you've gotten rid of but wish you still had?

Asked by jca2 (16271

) 3 weeks ago
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Are there any items or anything that you used to own that you got rid of, maybe due to a move, maybe just because you didn’t think you needed it or wanted it any more, maybe because someone asked you if they could have it, but you really wish you still had? A car, a book, a piece of jewelry, an item of clothing, something that belonged to your mom, your dad, your grandparents, a relative, a friend?

I have a few things from my childhood which I wish I had, still. My grandparents’ house was an old Victorian with decades of fun stuff in it, from the children they raised in the 1930s through the 1960s.

There are a few books, one was a very old book, probably from the 1920’s, like a textbook about science and the world, for children. Also a picture book about a turtle that had to move because they were doing construction where he lived. It was not a cartoon book, it had beautiful paintings of the turtle and his surroundings.

When I was little, also, my grandmother used to collect Cracker Jack prizes for me, little plastic charms from the days when they’d give a prize in the Cracker Jack box, and she made a necklace for me with the charms on a string. I wish I still had that.

Also, when I was in my 20s I collected matches – matchbooks and boxes from restaurants, bars, stores and other places, from the time when they gave them out. When I moved, when I was 30, I had so much stuff, I opted to leave the collection behind, thinking I’ll just collect more in the future, not realizing that promo matches would be a thing of the past now that smoking is not allowed in restaurants and bars. It was in two glass fishbowls, and it didn’t take up a lot of space but I was just overwhelmed with so much stuff to move. That collection would be really cool and nostalgic to have.

I’m sure I can think of more things because I tend to be a sentimental person. How about you? Is there anything you still wish you had?

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Topics: life, stuff, books, memories, wishes, regret

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I had a pretty big collection of compact discs and cassettes. Wish I still had them all.

Blackwater_Park (8616

)“Great Answer” (2

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I regret losing a story book that fascinated me as a young kid. It had a story about a pub called the Red Lion and the lion came to life when the piece of parchment on which a wizard had written a spell blew away and got wrapped around the pub sign. Another story if my memory serves me correctly was of a family who lived inside an apple. When I think of this book I remember the smell of its pages though I haven’t seen the book for 60 years.

flutherother (34539

)“Great Answer” (3

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I miss my motorcycle, but I hadn’t rode it in over 4years so it was time to sell it.

SQUEEKY2 (23124

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I love this question!

@flutherother have you ever tried to find copies of those books again, such as at thriftbooks.com? Or was it that you wish you still have the original copies. Like @jca2 we had a wonderful book growing up called The World We Live In. It was a very scienc-y book, and had stuff in it ranging from how the planets formed, to how dinosaurs evolved into mammals, to different types of biomes around the world. I think my brother, who was the oldest, eventually took that book, although I’m not sure. I just know that at some point I went looking for the book at my parents’ house and it wasn’t there anymore. My mom tried to remember and thought that my brother had wanted it and taken it. Well, just on a whim, I went on Amazon, and it turned out that they had an old copy of it that somebody was selling. It was used, but it was in nearly brand new condition, except for missing the outside jacket. So now I have that book on my shelf, and now I might have to get it out tonight after dinner and look through it again for old-times sake.

As far as moving goes, both of my last two moves have been really hectic and sort of rushed affairs. I know there were things I didn’t take that I now regret. At least I am comforted to know that I passed them on to my sister and she really could use them.

Here’s a crazy example that I just discovered the other day. I never make soup in a saucepan anymore. I don’t eat soup much because it’s so high in sodium anyway, but even when I do reheat some homemade soup, it’s always in the microwave. Well, Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (one of my favorite soups when I was younger and healthier), has just recently come out with an unsalted version! It does have 40 mg of sodium so I can easily have that. Well, I was thinking about getting some when I went out to the store but then all of a sudden I realized, I don’t have a saucepan! There were several saucepans at my parents house when we were going through stuff after they passed, and I don’t know why, but I never took even one of them with me. So at some point I guess I’m going to buy a probably fairly small saucepan so I can now enjoy my unsalted cream of mushroom soup!

There were a few other things too, but that was the first one that came to mind. And I don’t know if I’m ever getting rid of another book again, (unless I read it and I absolutely hate it.) Because every time I’ve gotten rid of books in the past because I’ve already read them, inevitably, a few years down the road, I want to read them again really badly, and then I have to find a copy somewhere. Which is probably why I have ten bookcases in my house!

One last thing, I used to have quite the comic book collection. At one point I guess I needed the money so I sold quite a few of them and really only hung on to my Batman ones. And now, not just because I like to read them, but also because the X-Men series that I had are actually decently valuable, I really wish I had them still.

LifeQuestioner (3641

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I lost everything I had four times, in six years.
I found a book I had when I was 12, at my parent’s house.

The only thing that has made it through everything is my canoe.

I never took lots of pictures, nor had many. I did have a single photo album, like old-school pictures 4 a page type thing.
Pictures from all kinds of things.
Places I had been. People I knew.
I even had a overstuffed envelope of negatives from the years of living.

I cannot possibly replace that album. The pictures, turned to mush in a flood.
I had reconstructed another one of salvageable pictures, but the next year I got flooded out by another hurricane…

I really miss my disgusting old mattress that had to go. It wasn’t pretty, but my girlfriend tolerated it, and it was really comfortable.
I was homeless for spans of months after each time. I was fortunate enough to have people lend me a couch for the most part of several years.

I have not really slept well on a mattress since my old one. I have grown used ro couches.

I had 30+ years of stuff. All gone. I am not a materialistic person. Perhaps not by choice.
But I miss a lot of my old stuff.
I have a habit of searching ebay for old Raiders Jackets, or things I used to own…

MrGrimm888 (19015

)“Great Answer” (2

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@LifeQuestioner I looked on some sites for the turtle book (which would have been from around 1969 probably) and the children’s science book but I couldn’t find either one. Also, someone gave my daughter a book when she was little (so from mid-2000’s) that was from either Canada or the UK about a girl and her cat, and it was a counting book, where each page had things the cat and the girl were counting, like cherries or peas. The pictures were very rustic style, simplistic, and the book may be somewhere in the attic but I looked online and couldn’t find it. I think the girl’s name or the cat’s name was Penny. I googled and googled and couldn’t find it.

@MrGrimm888 Photos from the pre-digital error are kind of sad because we either had only one copy, which may be lost or given away or maybe we’d print doubles and give one away, regardless, if those photos are lost, they’re now lost forever. At least with digital, we may be able to keep or store it.

jca2 (16271

)“Great Answer” (2

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^Yep. My family had a lot of old pictures that were often the only ones.
There are actually very few pictures of me in existence.
I do not use social media to share images.
Not that I need the picture more than the experience. But there is something about old photos.
When you dig them out and look at them when the power is out, or whatever, you see all these images you’ve seen before but you see them differently with age. I regret not taking greater care to preserve my album.
But. Things just happen quickly sometimes.

MrGrimm888 (19015

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@jca2 you should know that one of my hobbies is helping people find books that they’ve been looking for forever. Now this may not be the right one and I’ve only had a chance to look for the last one you mentioned, but check out this link…

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/counting-with-tiny-cat_viviane-schwarz/14720714/item/44833838/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=low_vol_backlist_standard_shopping_retention&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=606977662558&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5cOwBhCiARIsAJ5njuZRP5AMKemHH3R9MoGsJnXBgaAxos9sFlMct3p1GZ_Wss8w6dqPTU4aAoTHEALw_wcB#idiq=44833838&edition=19799723

LifeQuestioner (3641

)“Great Answer” (0

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That looks like a very cute book but it’s not the same one, @LifeQuestioner. The one I had, it had paintings of the girl and the cat that were very colorful, dark greens, reds, blues, etc.

jca2 (16271

)“Great Answer” (2

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@jca2 oh well, it was worth a try.

LifeQuestioner (3641

)“Great Answer” (2

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Yes, thanks @LifeQuestioner. Your link got me looking more, and googling more.

jca2 (16271

)“Great Answer” (3

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Mostly things related to my hobby of collecting old video games. I can name from memory all the pieces I lost various ways that I’m never going to get over: Pokémon gold+crystal, Pokémon stadium 2, Mario Party 3, Super Scope (CIB), Majoras Mask, the maps to Final Fantasy, Gemfire (CIB), Snow Bros, and a Mario Bros Game and Watch.

Those and my vinyl, (the Floyd in particular).

Also my first car, and my heart: my girl sold them both.

Smashley (12404

)“Great Answer” (2

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@Smashley I think I pretty much still have all my old booklets and maps to my NES and SNES games, including Final Fantasy!

LifeQuestioner (3641

)“Great Answer” (1

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OMG don’t tell me that. Next time I get drunk I’m going to be trying to talk you into selling the lot.

Smashley (12404

)“Great Answer” (2

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@Smashley depending on what you specifically want, I might be able to consider giving or selling them to you. I also have a lot of the books that game stores sell to supplement the game, and they have really good maps as well, so I don’t necessarily need the ones that came with the original games. But I would definitely have to dig through my stuff because it’s been a while since I’ve had time to play.

LifeQuestioner (3641

)“Great Answer” (1

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My Mom got annoyed that I had comic books, and made me get rid of them all.
This included my Silver Surfer #1, now valued at $33,000

filmfann (52232

)“Great Answer” (5

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Both my wedding ring and my mother’s wedding ring. I sold both of them to help fund our move.

jonsblond (43694

)“Great Answer” (2

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@LifeQuestioner I had a look online but without success. I don’t even remember the title of the book so I don’t have much to go on. I had more success with “Brian’s Goodnight Book” which was one of the first books ever tried to read and I bought a copy on eBay a few years ago. It now sits in a bookcase in my lounge but its physical presence seems to have stolen some of the original magic.

flutherother (34539

)“Great Answer” (2

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Of course; there is a list.

SnipSnip (6779

)“Great Answer” (1

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Is there anything that you used to own, that you've gotten rid of but wish you still had?

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