Well, they’re really not, but you would think that they were the way she saves keys. Most of them look like they’re from luggage that was thrown away years ago, or for little tin boxes that she no longer has — except for the one that she does have but doesn’t have a key for. Will she throw them away? Oh, no. Because you never know.
Then there’s all the amber jewelry she brought back from her last trip to Poland, which had to be a good 35 years ago. She kept giving me these strands of graduated polished amber chunks, which I really hate and never wore. So now I’m faced with her stash and the stash she gave me (which I never got rid of because she periodically asks me if I still have them and wants to see them).
Over the years, however, I did take some of them apart, combined them with other objects, and redesigned them into necklaces I would definitely wear. Except, as I get older, my neck gets shorter (at least it seems that way) and I tend not to wear necklaces. I stopped wearing bracelets when I started using a keyboard. They just got in the way.
The necklace I like most that I remade now has a white and gold amber pendant (which I bought) hanging from it that looks rather like a stylized Amazon labrys.

I would definitely wear that one, if I had any place to go.
These days I live in jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. So what about all those shoes? Leftover from a life full of work and dancing, they are slowly being left to those who might better use them. It’s a slow letting go.