My "new" rug

I now have a Turkish rug in my den. The main area has a red background and the pattern is mainly shades of blue. My parents got the rug when we were in Turkey in the late 1960's. At that time they bought one for each of us four kids, one for each of their parents and one for them to keep. At the time of Katrina, all seven we in their house and got wet. Those that were being used got hung up to dry and were ok, but there were a couple rolled up in the closet that were not noticed for some time. They haven't been thrown away yet, but I suspect they will be, including the one I've always wanted.

I was at my Dad's yesterday and he told me that I should take one of the Turkish rugs home with me. I knew the one I wanted, it was the only silk one in the bunch, and when it was new it had a sheen to it that the others did not. While the others had geometric patterns, that one looked like the entrance to mosque or other building, that curved arch with a lamp hanging down. Another wonderful feature of that rug is that it was the one they gave to my paternal grandmother, someone for whom I have always had a special fondness. She died when I was almost 10, about 18 months after we got back to the US. Unfortunately, that rug was one of those that didn't get hung up and it was in less than wonderful shape. My daughter was not impressed, and I asked her which one we should take. She picked out the one we have, so I said we'd take it. It looks nice with the furniture in the den.

My dad also pulled out my mom's jewelry box and asked me if I wanted to take any of it. Well, one trait I inherited from my mom is that neither one of us really wears jewelery all that often, so when I looked at all that stuff I really didn't see anything that said "Mom" to me, nor was there anything I was dying to wear, so I passed on all of it. Dad mentioned her wedding rings, but I told him that I had my paternal grandmother's rings, so I thought my sister should have firt crack at Mom's. He said he'd ask her, but said that since I had two girls, if she didn't want them, I should take them.

Dad is starting to clear out stuff, and I'm starting to think about how much of it I want. Compared to a lot of people, he and my mom didn't have all that much irreplaceable stuff. There aren't any antique sideboards or valuable original paintings. Basically, if he died tomorrow, there would be a house full of used furniture, not a lot for the kids to squabble over. However, there are the Turkish rugs, some brass pieces they picked up in Turkey, Mom's and Grandma's silver flatware, Mom's and Grandma's china, Mom's Lenox Nativity set, Mom's crystal, and a few other things like that. I'm not willing to fight my sibs for any of it, though I'm not sure how much of it any of them would want. I'd hate for any of those things to end up at a garage sale, but I'm not a big fan of clutter either. How much of that kind of stuff do you hang onto?