How about pocket watches, buzz? Or shaving brushes, or fountain pens, or pocket knives? Would those things be unimportant to you if they had been your grandad's?

Not trying to sound convicting, just trying to understand. Because, all those things of my grandad's are special to me. All those things, including his guns, remind me of things that happened to him in his life, and seem somehow more important because of them.

I'm not morbid about them, and they are not a part of some shrine, but they have a special place in my memory. I gave my brother our grandad's gold pocket watch when he moved away to Arizona some 25 years ago, because I wanted him to have something tangible of our family's past that he could look at and hold, and I thought that object might accomplish that for him. I asked him about it last year and he said he had passed it on to his oldest son.

Strange how personal objects mean so much more to some than to others.

Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce on some things.......... and wonder about their importance.

SRH

May God bless America and those who defend her.