I come from a large family, so I guess it's not surprising that my family has had a major influence on my life. This influence is reflected in my keychain collection. There are a number of keychains that have ended up in my collection because they reminded me of someone I know and care about. Below is a sampling of some of these keychains, along with the necessary background information explaining who the keychains remind me of and why.
My Mom:
The house shaped keychain in the top corner features the logo for the So-Fro chain of fabric stores. The design was made to look like bolts of fabric, stacked into the shape of a house. My mom likes to sew, and she frequented this store a lot when I was a kid. At the time, there really wasn't much there to hold my interest, unless I was helping my mom pick out fabric for my Halloween costume, and I'd frequently get bored on these shopping trips. I think this store chain eventually went out of business.
My mom, like her father before her, is also a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. Philadelphia sports teams have developed a reputation for not being very good, so being a fan takes real dedication. And though my mom isn't as hardcore as some fans I've seen on the local news, she wears her Phillies baseball cap with pride.
Also pictured is a St. Anthony keychain. St. Anthony is the patron saint that Catholics are supposed to pray to when trying to find something they've lost. The prayer, "Dear St. Anthony, please come around, something's lost and can't be found," is one that my mom uses frequently. And according to her, it actually works, though I don't seem to have the same luck with it that she does.
My Dad:
I'm not sure why my dad has an interest in carousel horses. Maybe he appreciates them as art objects. Or maybe he's impressed with the craftsmanship that went into creating older carousel figures. At any rate, this carousel horse keychain makes me think of my dad.
Dad is also a fan of the comic strip Peanuts. His favorite Peanuts characters are Snoopy and Woodstock.
Dad is a card-carrying member of Triple A as well.
My Sister K.:
My sister K. loves musical theater. Her favorite musical is The Phantom Of The Opera. So naturally, when I found a Phantom Of The Opera keychain secondhand I had to get it.
The other keychain pictured is a small knife in a sheath. My sister likes to dress up in costume for the local Renaissance fairs, and she has quite a collection of, purely decorative, weaponry for accessorizing her outfits. For a while, she couldn't go to a Renaissance fair without purchasing a sword or a dagger. But she quickly realized that swords are difficult to store. So she now mostly buys additional jewelry items and headpieces for her costumes.
My Second Sister, L.:
This Bop It keychain from Basic Fun Inc. really works, with the correct batteries. I took the batteries out quite a while ago, so that they wouldn't start leaking over time while the keychain was in storage. Anyway, my second sister, L., had a full-sized Bop It game when we were growing up. She got pretty good at it too, from what I remember.
My Third Sister, A.:
My third sister, A., wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up. So the above assortment of outer space related keychains reminds me of her. A. had to give up her dream in college, when she realized that she couldn't meet the higher math requirements. She majored in history instead, but she still has a fascination with space.
A. is also a fan of Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean films, which is why I have this key shaped keychain that replicates a prop from the second movie in the series.
My Brother:
This assortment of manatee keychains will always remind me of my brother, and of a certain family vacation to Walt Disney World. My brother is mildly autistic, and he sometimes has trouble coping if his senses are 'over-stimulated'. On one particular day of the trip, my family was checking out the ocean themed pavilion at Epcot. Part of the exhibit included a large tank for rescued manatees, who had been injured by motorboats. My brother spent quite a bit of time by that tank, watching the manatees placidly swimming and eating lettuce. It helped him to relax in the crowded and sometimes overwhelming environment of a Disney theme park.
My brother also collects a wide variety of trading card gaming cards, including Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering. Wizards Of The Coast is a prominent company in the trading card gaming industry, but that's about all I can tell you on the subject. My brother knows a lot more about it than I do.
Also pictured is a battery-operated Goosebumps electronic organizer keychain by Micro Games Of America. When he was younger, my brother had quite the collection of Goosebumps brand books.
My Best Friend:
The purple Coach keychain works on two levels, since my best friend is a fan of Coach brand purses and her favorite color is purple.
As for the Josh Groban keychain, he's one of my best friend's favorite singers. A self-proclaimed 'Grobanite', my best friend always keeps up to date on when and where Josh Groban will be performing.
My Paternal Grandfather:
This Sherlock Holmes silhouette keychain reminds me of my paternal grandfather. I wasn't as close to my grandfather as some of my siblings were, but Sherlock Holmes books were something we both enjoyed. I was a big Sherlock Holmes fan when I was in grade school, and while my interest in Holmes has cooled a bit since then, I still enjoy reading the original short stories from time to time.
My Paternal Grandmother:
I still remember how passionate my paternal grandmother was about bowling. At one time she was even part of a bowling team, along with my dad and at least one of my aunts. I was very young then, and my memories are hazy, but I vaguely recall being brought along to the bowling alley. According to my mom, my dad stopped taking me after I accidentally poked myself in the eye with one of the pencils used to keep score.
My grandmother's health deteriorated in her later years. But even when she could no longer visit the bowling alley, she still enjoyed the game. Towards the end of her life, before she had to be moved into assisted care, she liked to sit in her favorite chair and use a Wii video game system to 'bowl' at home.
My Maternal Grandmother:
My maternal grandmother always had a few of these Tupperware bowl keychains around the house. I remember playing with some of them when we came to visit. The ones in the 'playroom', which was actually a spare bedroom where her grown children's old toys were kept, were ok to play with. But if I saw one in the catch-all dish on my grandmother's dining room table, I wasn't allowed to touch it, because that's where my grandmother kept any keychains she was currently using to hold medication or bus tokens or whatever.
My Great Aunt H.H.:
My great aunt loved animals, especially cats. The cats that she kept as pets over the course of her life were always rescued strays. My great aunt's love of cats also extended to the musical stage play Cats, which is why the two keychains above are featured in this post. My great aunt's favorite character from the stage show was Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat.
My great aunt also donated money to animal related causes like wolf conservation, which is why this wolf's head keychain from the National Wildlife Federation reminded me of her.
My Aunt S.F.:
One of my aunts, S.F., and her husband, my uncle J.F., have several hummingbird feeders set up on their property. Hummingbirds are also a reoccurring theme in their indoor decor. I assume this was more my aunt's doing than my uncle's, so I think of my aunt when I see this hummingbird keychain.
My Cousin K.V.:
I'm not really sure if my cousin K.V. genuinely had a thing for unicorns, or if I just think she did. I remember strongly that she had a small box with a unicorn design on the lid that she kept in her bedroom when we were kids. I saw it several times when my family came to visit. And like every other little girl back then, my cousin loved My Little Ponies.
Whatever the actual case may be, in my mind I associate my cousin K.V. with unicorns. Or at least, I associate my childhood memories of my cousin with unicorns. My cousin is an adult now with children of her own. And these days, on the rare occasions when I see her, I don't immediately think 'unicorns'.
As you can see, there've been a lot of people in my life that I've 'memorialized' in my keychain collection. These people have all made a mark on my life, and I sincerely hope that any marks I've made on their lives have been positive.
Signed, Treesa
