Weird find in the attic...

[FiguringLifeOutOneFuckUpAtATime]

I lost my mom almost 2 years ago. She was very creative & a prolific hoarder of books, any items/materials/junk that may "come in useful someday", decorations, craft materials and all our childhood craft/school work (myself and brother are in our late 30's now).

We are still clearing the house, it seems never-ending. I was going through some random tins & boxes in the attic yesterday. I found 2 tins absolutely filled with our childhood hair clippings(!) including an entire ponytail from when I had my long-ish hair cut short in my teen years.

I never knew she kept any of this! Obviously I can understand many people keep sentimental single cuttings of a baby's first haircut, but I cannot understand why my mom might have kept all these? Anybody have any idea for any possible reasons??

(I'm pretty certain now that she was ND in some way & the hoarding was part of this, but it just seems a little excessive if she didn't have a "plan" to use them for creating something)

She loved you and couldn’t bare to part with any part of you.

I have a few of my DCs hair clippings and not just the first ones. It’s just sentimentality.
The same way as I have every single drawing they have done.
You were obviously special to your mum.

Emotional attachment to the memory or moment. I've kept my children's baby teeth and my dogs puppy teeth - it's a tangible link to them in that moment when they were children

I still have most of my children's baby teeth, I just can't imagine throwing away in the bin something that was part of them. Maybe I should get myself together to bury them in the garden. I should say I'm autistic though, so the being-part-of-them thing is very literal to me.

We've yet to find any teeth yet! Though I imagine they'll be there somewhere 😊
I believe my mom was autistic/ADD (or both), as we are looking at getting our own assessments due to us & our children all showing traits too. So what you say does make sense to me, thank you for your thoughts on it!

I'm not QUITE so sentimental as to keep everything from my kids, but it is partly because I'm realising how difficult it is to manage my own hoarding tendencies. I'm trying to be ruthless with clearing out unused items so that my own kids won't be lumbered with my "stuff" when my own time comes!

I don't think this is outrageously uncommon in NT people to be honest. People keep all sorts of things for sentimental and emotional reasons, not just to use for arts and crafts! My first dog died when I was 18. I cut a small amount of his fur off before he was taken away (to be cremated I assume). I still have that little bit of fur in a tin - I'm 67 years old now.

I’ve got my kids umbilical cords. and teeth.