Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for March 02, 2021

Ah yes. The accumulations of “heirlooms.” The generations today hold no value to old things, no matter the quality or workmanship. It’s a world of who has the newer version. The new i-phone, new i-pad, new i-gadget.

We talked about this yesterday. It seems the next generation does not share the need for a physical link to those they never knew.

It’s all true. I track estate sales and the things everyone spent their lives collecting no one in the family wants. All they want is to sell it for whatever they can get and move on. You get to where you can tell the age group by the things collected. It’s really sad.

My mother, for some reason, had 2 sets of fine china. My wife wanted them; we use one of them maybe once per year but it makes her happy.

I think there are so many photos of everyone now, the kids seem satisfied with that. I feel bad thinking how my mom wanted to save the “nice things” for visitors rather than just enjoy them for herself.

Oh does this ring so true. Cleaning out my Mother-In-Laws house for the past 8 months. She had 7 sets of “Fine China”…Hers, Her Mothers, He Grandmother’s AND her Great Grandmothers. She also had “Anniversary” China of hers, her mother’s and her grandmothers. We had it all appraised..nothing worth saving. My wife was “But this means so much”…I was “You NEVER SAW THIS STUFF UNTIL NOW”…My Mother-In-Law was a hoarder, and now I’m dealing with the “EVERYTHING must have had a reason”…ummm..no…We finally started using our china and her Grandmother’s China on a weekly basis, but OMG, so much stuff…

On Pawn Stars : Sentimentality is worthless

We recently moved to a different state and chose to downsize our belongings. We sold, gave, donated, recycled or tossed about half, leaving still a 26ft semitrailer full. Since arriving at the new location, we’ve noticed how many people have 3, 4, or more sheds in the yard plus garages. Our neighbor said they had 2 households of stuff in their garage from mother and grandmother. Someone has to deal with that stuff eventually.

The old and the past are being erased: read Brave New World and 1984.

How poignant this little arc is! Starts at https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2018/04/03

Heirlooms are valuable when we can tie a story or an emotion to them. Otherwise, they are just old stuff. Grandma’s china is important to Janis because it reminds her of visiting her grandma, family dinners, warm cozy times.

If the china sat in a box in the attic during Gene’s childhood, he has no fond memories attached to it. To him, it’s another box of junk to deal with.

Janis was afraid the china would be broken so she kept it locked up. By keeping it locked up, she stripped its meaning from future generations. If you want an heirloom to be important to your descendants, when your children are young, get it out, let them touch it, tell them stories about the ancestor who owned it. History doesn’t belong in an attic.

@ddjg Dang, I didn’t realize this was a “rerun”. I went to the link and forwarded a few days after. I now know what happens.

A little sad they don’t

There were people before you and Dad? :-0

For me, the most astounding part of yesterday’s and today’s strips is that I don’t recall at all reading them in 2018. Yep, the memory bank must have filled up long ago and can’t take anything else.

It is junk that most do not want.

I am blessed to have grandchildren who know and love my parents as people and not just pictures/heirlooms. My parents are in their 90’s so I don’t know how much longer they will be here. As for me – I have a knife my great grandfather used in his work that has passed to my oldest and one day to his oldest, but none of us ever met him. All we know is some stories about him. But for all that it is interesting.

I’m in my 60s now, and I have found that I really don’t want all the stuff I inherited from my parents and grandparents. The only exception is my dad’s coin collection. I’ll pass this junk onto my children. HeeHee. However, my big regret is my father was in the Pacific during WWII and he brought home a lot of photos, including an original print of the Marines raising the flag at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. It accidentally got thrown out during a housecleaning session by my wife.

Me: “What’s that beautiful, old Edison Victrola in working condition worth?”Auctioneer: “What ever the first bid is. People don’t value antiques anymore.” [Direct quote!]

I inherited my mother’s fine china and her Christmas dishes. Pre-pandemic we used the china 1 – 2 times a year (Thanksgiving and Easter). My aunt said she was the envy of her friends as she knew someone who actually still used the family china. The biggest drawback to fine china is that is should be washed by hand but I put them in the dishwasher anyway (I’d rather enjoy using them then worry about the minute layers of pattern being etched off in the dishwasher). The Christmas dishes, however, get used from Thanksgiving to New Year every year. I doubt my daughter will keep the fine china when she inherits them but that’s her decision to make.

Maybe the china is worth something. Otherwise it pretty much ends up being clutter.

my wife worked retail many years ago and saved numerous coins and old currency we thought would be of value one day. Last summer in the midst of the viral plague we pulled it all out and asked the kids if they wanted us to save it for them. Neither wanted the responsibility. So we sold it all and got a small reward for our diligence. the silver in the pre 62 quarters had more value than the currency. Quite sad no one cares about the historic currency. Anyhow, selling EVERYTHING off this summer and gonna spend it on hookers and black jack. well, travel when we are allowed but I think Bender had it right.

Maybe we get to visit with the Shrimp and her folks for a while. Hopefully.

Nostalgia is a luxury of the old. Much of their focus is backward, and objects from the past are valuable to them. The young are focused on today and the future. They’re too busy for nostalgia.

But as they age, they’ll start to look back over their lives. And they’ll bemoan that young people don’t have proper appreciation of the past, forgetting that they were the same when they were young.

This is exactly how I ended up with boxes in my garage full of china

Tradition has given rise to “the new American landfill”…storage units multiplying all over the land

Not much sentimental value for something from someone you never knew.

Daughter number 2 and our son are focused on today. Daughter number 1 is a great fan of the family past so we pass on all the junk to her. What she does with it????

We were lucky enough to get MIL’s melamine dinnerware and still use the few pieces left to this day. (bowls and platters) We also have her candlewick, but never use it. It’s too hard to clean.

My married friends have told me that the extra fine & expensive china is not something they find to be practical. My mother’s bridal Limoge….I think we used it twice ….

Formal dinning rooms less popular in new housing

What I would like to know is why A & J never had their “Who Shot JR?" party!

I have stuff from my grandparents and even great-grandparents, and other relatives of the same generations. I find those items much more interesting and therefore more valuable (in my mind) than my parents’ stuff. So I think Gene is missing the boat here. The way I see it is that, since many of these items were special to my parents or grandparents, I owe it to them (or to their memory) to at least respect that and not toss it. Besides, I’m enjoying it now (like some collections, just by knowing I have it), even if not using it very much, and I know I’d feel bad getting rid of it. Mostly I have inherited 100 + year old furniture that I love. Most of that my kids and grandkids will get (in 20 years or so), and what they do with it won’t concern me at that time.

Until they’re older and there’s no one to ask.

Today’s kids don’t care about antiques or memorabilia.

my great grandmother used to babysit me…she stopped just in time as i was leaping out a second story window with a towel around my neck when i was 3

I find it amusing that young Janis is depicted as a doppelgänger of Meg the Shrimp.  (Given that Meg is Janis’ step-granddaughter, they are not related by blood.)