Sometimes people have these traditions of passing on sentimental objects from one generation to the other.  Things like watches, rings, necklaces, tools, and so on are handed down from fathers to sons or mothers to daughters.  I have always liked this idea and have kept certain things that I would like to give to my future child as presents, but nothing is more important to me than my copy of  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

My mother bought this book when she was a teenager living in New York, and it has been through it all: trips, farm living, storage and even floods (our house got flooded during a hurricane)!  This copy of the book is over thirty years old and it survives.

Growing up poor, my mother would work to help the family and what little money she could save she would use to buy books such as this one.  Some did not survive her journey, but she was especially fond of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She kept it safe, so that one day when her daughters would be old enough to read it she would pass it on.

After a lot of re-locations of our small family, my mother found the book in a box full of her most cherished books (you know those books that you just can’t bring yourself to give away or sell).  I got A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and my sister was given Anne of Green Gables.

Our love for literature and reading is one of the most important bonds that we share.  I would not change this book for anything, because my mother knew that for me there would not be a bigger joy than reading a good book such as this.  Come to think about it, I should add it to my list of influential books.

I have learned so much from this book and feel richer for it.  If this book made of paper could survive all these years and bring so much joy, why wallow in self-pity?  Who needs expensive gifts?

This is something I want to share with my future children!

Did your parents pass on things to you? What was it?  Do you have a book that you love and has the wear and tear of survival?