What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

If you really knew me, this would not come as a surprise. However, since you may not, I need you to trust me when I saw this: I still have the leaf that my then-boyfriend gave me in the seventh grade.

He was walking me to the bus stop one day after school. I don’t remember the exact weather but I’d assume it was a late autumn day. Middle school was such an irrelevant ball of mental chaos for me but he was a highlight. When we got to the bus stop, he reached up to the tree, plucked off a leaf, and gave it to me. I remember him saying something to the effect of, “I can’t afford to give you flowers, so I’m giving you this.”

Yall. The way my little seventh-grade heart melted!!!! Ugh!

When I got home, I put the leaf in a zip-lock baggy and I’ve had it ever since. Although that was over 26 years ago, the sentiment still sits with me to this day. I hold onto everything because it meant something to the person who gave it to me.

Whether it’s a birthday card, a wedding or a baby shower token, a leaf, or a kind word, I have a hard time letting go of things that are given to me in love.

Which unfortunately means that I consider everything to be most dear to me. From my elephant and butterfly collection to text messages from loved ones to cell contacts of those dearly departed, what is given in love, stays in my heart (and possession) for life.