What is your most prized or sentimental possession? Explain.

Joanne's favorite answer:
My most sentimental possession is a tiny pewter heart and key. I got it, along with a bunch of other junk jewlery on my 9th birthday. I thought that it looked romantic and decided that when I grew up I would give it to the man I fell in love with. Well, it was in the possession of two different men at various times in my life. To make a long story short, before I met my husband I learned the unromantic, but still beautiful, lesson that you don't, you can't, give your heart away. It's yours. It's always yours. You just give people room in it. When they leave you, yes, a large part of your heart is empty. But, it's still your heart. It breaks, it heals, it expands, it contracts - but it's always yours. My husband has never been given the heart. When I married him, though, I wore it on my garter under my dress. I had my whole heart with me when I said, "I Do."

Joanne's answer:
I guess I would have to say my photo albums, journals, and valentine's day poems. I don't know if they really count as "sentimental possessions", but they are probably the only things that I own that are truly irreplacable and I would feel sick about if they were lost or destroyed. I have some jewlery that I am a bit sentimental about, like my grandmother's class ring and a ring from my "first love", but I definitely care about my albums/journals/poems more. One funny thing that I have had since the summer that I graduated high school - which has moved with me from Boston to LA to Riverside to San Fran - is this goofy little piece of chainmail from when my friends in Natick used to do NERO (a live role-playing thing). I never much got into NERO myself, but I had this awesome group of friends who did - a lot of the group still hangs out together and I see them when I go home for Christmas and stuff, but the first summer that we were all friends - the summer after I graduated from high school - we all hung out every day and it was such a fun summer .... I have some really good memories of that friend group, and I guess my little piece of chainmail sort of represents that. I still have it in my room, it currently sits on top of my stereo. =)

And the other answers!

1. Probably my Les Paul Guitar. It's so pretty and it sounds good too.

2. My car keys - ESCAPE.

3. My most prized possessions are my grandparents' high school class rings. My g'ma's is from 1930 and my g'pa's is from 1926.

4. My most prized and sentimental possession was stolen from me - my grandmother's ring. It was in a platinum setting with a diamond in the middle of two sapphires. The diamond part of the ring was the stone her father gave her when she graduated high school. When she became engaged to my grandfather she took the diamond her father gave her off, so as not to wear two diamond rings. My grandfather took the ring to the jewelers and had it put in a setting that required two more stones. He said he wanted sapphires because they were blue to match her eyes. (all of the jewelery he got her was diamonds and sapphires). She used to let me wear the ring around the house when I went to visit her and when I graduated high school, she gave it to me. Since the diamond of it was given to her for her graduation, she thought it would be an appropriate time to give me the ring. But it was stolen along with most of my jewelery many years ago and it broke my heart. Since then I find it hard to become attached to anything that can get lost, stolen or destroyed. The closest thing now would be the pictures of my children as they were growing up.

5. My mother's engagement and wedding rings from my father. My father passed away suddenly when I was 6, so they are very special to me. They are actually the only things that I really have to remind me of him. Anyway, I always loved them growing up. Once in a while, my mom would let me put them on my finger and I felt so special (of course, they were way too big for me, but I didn't care). When I graduated HS, my mom gave them to me as a graduation gift. It was the best gift I ever received, and will always cherish them.

6. My cell phone...i'd be lost without it. Its mylifeline.