I have a little, yellow jug. A gravy jug to be precise. My Mum gave it to me. There’s nothing special about it. It’s a lovely shade of pastel yellow. It’s curvy and simple. It holds just the right amount of gravy for dinner.

I am very careful with the little, yellow jug, but I don’t hide it away. I just make sure I hand wash it – no dishwasher for the jug. I dry it straight away and pop it back on the top shelf so the kids can’t play with it. Sometimes, I worry about the jug breaking and check it to make sure it’s safely sitting in its place.

I have had it for a few years now. It was in a pile of stuff my Mum was looking to get rid of and I snapped it up. Not that I had to snap fast, I don’t have brothers and sisters to fight with for things. In fact, I think Mum would be surprised I love the jug as much as I do. Mum would say: “Oh, this old thing” or “I was going to throw it away”. And if I cared where she got it from, and asked her, she’d probably say: “Oh, some antique shop” or most likely she’d respond: “Oh, I don’t know. I have no idea”.

But, I don’t care if it’s crap or where it originally came from because it’s special to me. It’s very special to me because I got it from my Mum and I’ve decided it’s a family heirloom. It’s my special family keepsake I got from my Mum.

You see I don’t know my Dad’s side of the family. I don’t know my Dad. And on my Mum’s side there aren’t many people left. Her Mum, my Grandma, died when she was little and her Dad, my Grandad, died a few years before I was born. I know bits and pieces about them, but I’d like to believe that if they were alive they’d love me as much as I’d love them. Even without memories, I have as good as decided what I know to be true. I owe them that much.

So, the only person I have to pass on family heirlooms to me is my Mum and that’s more than a lot of people can lay claim to. I’m very lucky. She doesn’t have any heirlooms from her parents, except the most important ones; memories. And when most people were building wealth, she was investing in me. And that’s why I hold dear my little, yellow jug.

Of course, my Mum would immediately think it a bad thing that she can’t pass on diamond rings, Wedgwood china, silverware or the like. But I am not fussed by those objects, I’d rather my husband and I work for those things. As I would rather my children work for those things. Anyway, I’d rather my little, yellow jug.

Do you have a keepsake you cherish?

bigwords x