My college girlfriend bought me a tri-fold wallet for my 20th birthday. It is still in daily use.

Why? It is an expensive and well made wallet and it has always felt "right" in my back pocket. While it shows obvious signs of wear, all the stitching is still in perfect shape.

That girlfriend dumped me, after 3 years of dating, for a guy that owned a fancier car. She contacted me two years later looking to get back together. I told her to pound sand, but I still use the wallet.

Thanks for the wallet Shannon... It doesn't remind me of you, but it is a good wallet.

Just remembered, she bought me the Led Zeppelin box set for Christmas that same year. It is currently sitting in my closet. I still "use" it, but I've long ripped the discs to FLAC files and listen to them via my Plex server.

So two things from the same girlfriend.

I will be turning 55 next month.

My phone number. She bought us both pre-paid phone numbers over 20 years ago, and it’s the simplest number to remember because it has two sets of 3 matching numbers.

We broke up long ago, but I still have that phone number!

Jeez, lots of things.

I'm still friends with most of my exes that were longish term (at least a year together). So there's no bad feelings that would make me reject an item, and out of those, no longing for them. There are a few that if I had anything from them, I would have donated it to something, but not many; obviously not hung up on those.

The main one is a teddy bear.

Which may seem weird, but there's a reason. When I got it, my dog was young. She would normally tear up any stuffed toy playing with it, and the household rule is/was that if it's on the floor, it belongs to the dog.

But my dog, out of all the stuff she'd cover in slobber and love to death, wouldn't do it to that one. No idea why.

But that's not why it's still important to me.

Well after me and that ex parted ways, I became disabled. This came along with a shit ton of pain, which had me contemplating exercising my right to death.

That toy, my dog would bring me when I was crying. At the time, the bear sat on the headboard, tucked into a little nook. I'd be balled up and hurting, and my dog would try to make me feel better. It wouldn't always work. When her being her wonderful self wasn't enough, she'd get the bear and bring it to me, and push it into my face until I took it, and then she'd curl up with me and sigh.

The bear sits on a bookshelf now, because the nook it sat in is now my wife's nook to keep things handy. But it's where I can look over and see it.

Now, it doesn't remind me of my ex at all. It reminds me of one of the best dogs I've ever met.

My daughter. <3

I still have the lava lamp my first girlfriend gave me. It's strange, there's so many things from that time in my life that remind me of her. Even certain locations take me back, when I'm visiting my old stomping grounds. But not that lava lamp. It's just a light

An engraved leatherman multitool. Just so usefull and indestructible.

I don't have it since moving continents, but when we were younger me and a girl I liked were disassembling some old computers our parents had. She took one of the hard drives and made an exploding view drawing from the components.

A tv; the thing's been solid for idk how long now. Not a smart TV either, so no updates, ads, or bullshit. Love it

Growing up, I spent every Sunday going to a church my grandpa established, and afterwards my entire family would go over to my grandparent's house for lunch. We would usually be there for hours, so many Sundays, my cousins and I would play gladiator outside in the backyard. We'd make weapons and armor out of whatever we could find, and just have a battle in the backyard. We did this from the time that we were little kids and all the way through my time in high school.

In my early college years, I had mentioned to my boyfriend (who i had been with since high school) that I really missed this tradition with my cousins.

He bought me this cute little gladiator doll to hang up on my car's rearview mirror as a memento of those special times. No longer have that boyfriend, but I still have that little doll.

Since I'm dramatic I burned a bunch of things my ex gave me in my parents' backyard. Years later I noticed my brother had a metal necklace with some discoloration. It was one I burned lol. I felt too weird to tell him.

Kept a hand knit wool scarf (they made for me) for around a decade. Outgrew the style but it was a damn good scarf.

I have a plushtoy and some coasters my first ex made. I dont really miss her (she was mean), but it was real good stitch quality.

I have the habit of cleaning the place on a Saturday morning from my last ex. Not really a gift, more of a curse, but her I miss.

A seam ripper from my ex's mother, if that counts. I've kept it in my little sewing box for a little over 10 years now.

A small pillow! It doesn't have too much stuffing and it's the right size to reinforce my neck. Solid pillow.

I am still using a computer case that was from my ex-roommate 4 1/2 years ago. I bought his old system when he was upgrading and while I had long gutted and got rid of the old parts to make way for newer ones a year after having moved out from him. I'm still using the case.

I have a ring from a 3 month stint a few years back. It was supposed to be an engagement ring (I was dumb lol) but now I just wear it cause it's a nice ring

I hate to say it but I’ve been using a tongue scraper a girlfriend got me like 15 years ago now. Sounds gross and maybe it is, but it’s hard high quality plastic and doesn’t seem to get dirty in any way, cleans off well, so…

Nothing but my wife jokes I was a virgin because my experiences before her were so little. Close enough according to her.

A pool cue. It was a nice one I had grown to love. My wife replaced it. But I still keep that old one around so when guests are over they have a nice cue to play with and don’t have to feel like they are handicapped with a crooked house cue ;)