52 Ancestors Week 24: Handed Down

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 24's theme is "Handed Down." Do you have a story that's been handed down in your family? Did it turn out to be true (or maybe have just a kernel of truth to it)? Maybe you have something tangible that's been handed down.

Getting "Deep Thoughts" vibes from this week's header.

You don't live in an Italian family without random things being handed down to you over the years. Every once in a while, your father, your cousin or even a second cousin will say to you "Hey. See this thing? I want you to have it.". That is very true for my family as the house I grew up in has a ton of tangible things that have been handed down to us. There are a lot of items to go over so let's get started!

Place to put your coffee or epic battlefield? You decide!

First up, we have this coffee table my great-grandfather, Giuseppe gave my grandpa Marco a long, long time ago. Marco then eventually gave it to us. The story behind it is kind of cool. Originally, it was a conference table and was a little taller. Marco shortened it and it became a six foot coffee table. My great-grandfather worked at Pentucket Bank in Haverhill for many years as a janitor. As part of his retirement, the bank gave him this coffee table when it was a conference table. It had been in our house ever since.

Growing up, it was the site of many epic battles between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Come on. Coffee tables were practically made for epic battles and when you're a kid, it doesn't really make a difference where you have battles between two warring factions of sentient transforming robots. Though, I am willing to bet there are some scratches on there brought on by me swerving Optimus Prime just right. Rubber tires on wood will do that!

These days, the coffee table has been relegated to just serving drinks. However, my nephews have kept the battlefield tradition alive when they come over to visit. No Transformers, though. Just LEGOs and the occasional hot wheels car.

A coffee table wasn't the only thing Giuseppe gave my family. He had given us not one but TWO antique clocks. They clearly don't work. The first one currently sits in the den with a few other items we have including my grandfathers' flags, pics of Vincenzo and Maria and our photo albums. I don't really know the story behind that one. However, the second clock I want to talk about has an interesting story. Well, interesting in a creepy way of course. Too bad it's early June and not Halloween.

Here we go!

Clock's haunted.

This next clock currently resides near the garage door where we keep our coats and everything and unlike the first one it DOES work. It just needs to be wound. One day we were getting ready to shovel the driveway. New England winters can be very treacherous with all the ice and everything. I was getting my boots on and suddenly the clock started chiming! There was no provocation. No reason for it. It started chiming and hasn't rung since. I think the clock is haunted! There is no reasonable explanation for it! I think I like this clock better than the first one because it just looks a lot cooler. Plus it's the only one that caused me to jump.

Oh and the light next to the clock was once a headlight to a car my grandpa Marco once had. Sweet, right? I wonder what kind of car it belonged to.

Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster.

And speaking of my grandpa Marco we come to the last thing I wanted to show everyone. I've talked about this on Twitter a few times. My grandma Ollie had a collection of swords and antique canes that my grandfather had collected over the years. She kept them in great condition and when I was a kid, I would check them out. My favorite item in the collection was this sword!

When Ollie passed away, the collection was passed down to me. It's a very heavy weapon. The blade, as it happens, is still sharp. I have no clue what kind of sword it is. It looks vaguely Middle Eastern. I've asked her how Marco got it and she wasn't sure. She thought it was a gift from a friend of his. Some gift. It's pretty awesome!

Out of everything I shared here, I want to learn more about the sword the most. Not because I want to go on an idealistic crusade or anything ;). I just want to know what type of sword it is. Where did it come from? I hope I found out some day because it is a cool weapon and I'm not the type of person who collects weapons. That's not my style.

More heirlooms from my grandma Natalie are scattered among my cousins like those creepy dolls I have mentioned in the past. These artifacts give us keen insight into who the original owners were. I'm not sure why Giuseppe needed to have two clocks. But, it's all good. They serve as pieces of our ancestors that they left behind and should be cherished for all time.