Captain Kangaroo

Chapter 1 of the Heirlooms Story

As I mentioned in a previous post, my quarter-life crisis included starting a podcast. The podcast is called “Heirlooms” and it is about the people, places, traditions, and items we carry with us for generations.

The initial inspiration for the show struck in the summer of 2020. I had graduated my master’s program into the COVID-19 pandemic and was spending the summer at my parents’ houses, preparing for my cross-country move to Pittsburgh.

One day, I went over to my Oma’s to visit her. She has been a seamstress since the 1950’s and has repaired many-a things for family and community members alike. Anyhow, when I stopped in on this particular day, she’d been doing some cleaning. After rescuing two fabulous pieces of clothing from being sent to Goodwill (mine now), I went into her sewing room with her.

She disappeared into the cavernous closet attached to the second-story room, emerging once again from behind the curtain she indubitably sewed herself. In her hands was a small stuffed doll with a fancy coat on. It looked sun-faded and worn, like a toy from many years past.

She explained that a family member of mine, though she could not recall whom, had dropped it off years prior to have it fixed up. She went on to share that this item belonged to my dad in his childhood and I should return it to him now that she found it.

While I thought it was cute, I didn’t make much of it at the time. I hopped in the car, vintage dress and doll in hand, and headed back to my dad’s house. He was in the backyard working on one of his many projects. I paused him and told him I had something for him.

With little fanfare, I unveiled the doll from the shoddy white plastic bag and handed it to him. When it registered that this was his beloved Captain Kangaroo doll from his childhood, he was overcome with emotion. As I saw his face crumple and the tears well up, I realized the salience that this item had in his life. It was far more than just a toy doll.

He explained that in the scary, unpredictable environment he was raised in, this item provided him great comfort. When his parents had their bouts of yelling, death threats, and abuse, the doll was his refuge. He could tell his worries to him and lean on him for comfort when his caretakers did not.

At that moment, I recognized several things.

1. Sometimes items and keepsakes have a significance that goes far beyond their material value.

2. An object that holds such emotional salience can be a totem of sorts for the things that are harder to talk about.

These insights — along with a story of my dad’s youth that involved some time spent ‘on the run’ in Kentucky farming tomatoes —led me to a precipice. After being told countless times throughout my life that someone should write a book about our family, I realized this might be a channel for doing so.

With the recognition that it can be challenging to share such traumatic details, being able to share through the lens of these items — and what they symbolized — for each story and chapter felt like a great outlet.

The namesake “Heirlooms” followed shortly after. As mentioned, my dad had a stint in his troubled younger years where he was evading the law. In the interim, he spent time in Kentucky assisting a family member on his tomato farm. From this, “heirlooms” touches not only on the tomato variety but the tradition of passing along items from generation to generation. The show is meant to centralize memories, traditions, and keepsakes along with their significance.

So far, it has been a great outlet. Being able to organize stories around the objects that encompass them has provided a great deal of insight about meaning-making, coping, and all that we choose to pass on — material or emotional — in this life.

Moreover, it has been a great tool for connecting with my dad. It is powerful hearing some of the things he has experienced. He also shares the wisdom he acquired along the way. While I was initially terrified to see how he would feel about the show, he has been incredibly supportive and open to the idea. Overall, I am very glad to be capturing the stories, if only for our own recollection.

As a sentimental person, I love that this show can be like a sappy show & tell. Diving in with my guests and hearing what matters to them is sure to be rewarding. I look forward to future episodes where I bring on guests and hear about what is special to them and why. If you are interested in following along with the show, here are a few links: Instagram; Anchor.

If you have any heirlooms items or stories, I’d love to hear about them! Feel free to drop them below.