time on a shelf, memories, things and us

Fathers Day Stuff
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A buckle my Dad wore and a watch of his and his Fathers. 1871 is when my fathers dad was born. he was born in 1914. One of these timepieces was my Grandfathers. Probably the larger one. It still ticks. Both Kathy and Zach think they can here it from the hall and they are sitting on my bookcase. In handling them the were began ticking. I remember my Dad feeling special about the watch. For him it was important because it was his Dad's. Over the last few yeas of his life he passed on all of his special things and seemed glad to do it. I don't know if the buckle was special. It really was probably not all that old.
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The small picture of he and mom on the buckle goes back to the 60's or so but I suspect the buckle came much later. It was his. He wore it. It is now on the bookcase. By the hat. Near the cane. Close to the old rifle and the typewriter. *******In my room. A picture album offers a lot more than "things" in terms of memories. If I was to look forward and try to think of what of mine could be on a son or daughters special place close to 100 years from my birth and hopefully just a few months after I was gone I wouldn't know what to expect. I don't think that the "things" I have of my Fathers are what he would have wanted to have his life defined by. For my Dad however that fact that you would keep something and remember him with it would indeed be important to him. For him the connection would have been important.
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Having said that it would be easy to now pass over the question: what of mine would be worth it as a "thing" to put on a shelf? In my office I have a lot of "things". I have connected to those things a lot of memories.
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If someone wants one thing on the shelf someday in the future then one good idea would be a copy of a small picture of me looking at Kathy and she at me when we were very young.
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************Two things on my selves seem to get a lot of attention. A typewriter that is really old and a rifle that actually says 1898 on it. The typewriter was my Mothers Dad's and the Rifle was my Dad's. Both have similar stories. A cousin on my Dad's side had the rifle. He thought it had been my fathers exclusively and he just brought it to me. The typewriter was one that a cousin on my Mom's side had. He had lived with these grandparents and in many ways was a lot closer to them. He also just brought this to me one day saying he thought it belonged with me. Both incidents surprised me. Both are important memories.