'Things' can be an empty word, but it can also carry deep meaning.

Special, seemingly unimportant objects, fill us with gratitude.

Joy can be found in the smallest of possessions that are overlooked by others.

As a professor, I was guilty of circling the word "things" on my students’ essays, cringing at this empty space of a six-letter word. My comment to them: “Think of another word instead of this hollow filler.” But my various possessions from my loved ones have become my things, what others might deem as unimportant and inconsequential objects, yet special to my existence and my memories.

List of the times my mother wore the necklace

My father’s scribbled list of the 27 dates and occasions when my mother wore the special necklace. This pearl and diamond necklace (known as the necklace) was bequeathed to her by her best friend Jean upon her death. The second date on the list is our wedding, June 27, 1976. The last date listed is November 14, 1993, when my mother wore it to a friend's daughter's wedding. Two years later, my father had his major stroke. I walked downstairs in my childhood home to breathe in my father’s essence: his Old English cologne and the mustiness of the rumpus room that evolved into his favorite room: his office. There, on his desk, lay The List. But this mundane thing, my father’s ordinary list of dates........

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