Reply #39: I have a lot of siblings. [View All]

We argue about all sorts of trivial things, but nothing important. Take the whole lot of us out to a restauraunt and it's impossible to split the bill because everyone wants to pay the entire thing. My wife's has a large family too, and they are the same way. A lot of family heirlooms, some of them very old, simply float around among us. If someone doesn't have room for something, they give it to someone who does. If someone wants to make a special place for a family treasure, they ask for it. It really doesn't matter who has what, or how valuable it might be, so long as it has a good home and someone is taking care of the story behind it.

All of us openly joke about who will get what whenever we are together. "If dad gives you that, I'm going to sneak into your house and take it!" It's an informal way of calculating the value of something to each of us. I care a great deal about my grandfather's scientific and engineering treasures; my siblings don't care as much.

Most of the stuff we care about is family folk art, or little odds and ends that someone who has passed away was especially fond of. My wife has her grandfather's tin lunch box that he took to work with him every day. I have my grandfather's home movies and tapes.

The nice thing about pictures, movies, tape recordings, drawings, etc. is that they are easily duplicated. Our original family photographs are pretty evenly distributed, but everyone has copies of any photographs they want.