My wife recently said of a blanket I own, "I don't care if you keep it, I just don't want it out for people to see."

Yikes.

This particular blanket was made by my grandmother and given to me as a Christmas gift when I was a pre- or early-teenager. Made of two different fabrics with two different designs -- blue with large soccer balls on one side and red, white and black with indescribable Native American-looking symbols on the other -- it is a pretty odd blanket in pretty shoddy shape. But, it carries a lot of sentimental meaning, and I just can't bring myself to throw it away (yet).

While I'm at it, I might as well also admit I still have a Beanie Baby duck from the same grandmother. His name is Tony, though I didn't name him that -- my younger sister did. I hate the name Tony, but I couldn't think of something better, so it's stuck.

Normally, I'd be embarrassed to admit to still possessing these things, but I recently read that 61% of people (surveyed) find it hard to part with sentimental items and 78% of people still possess a sentimental item. So I'm really not alone.

In my defense, my wife still sleeps with a tattered, old sweatshirt her mother gave her when she was a child. So, I've always got that ammo in my back pocket if I need it!