When I was younger, I studied Tae Kwon Do.  I was pretty good at it because at my first tournament, I won first place for my division.  What especially made the victory “oh so sweet” was that everybody in my dojo said it would be a great experience for me, but said I wouldn’t win.  They based this believe on the fact that the tournament was a state-wide one with people coming up for it that lived hours away.  It was a very big tournament!

The 2 1/2 foot trophy is great, and I when I look at it, I still live some of the tournament challenges in my mind…  I remember the special kick that I invented and how I got nailed in the head with a spinning back kick from an opponent and how I overcame that opponent; and then how I won the last match after being down by 2 point.  But that was then and this is now!

As much as that trophy hold value for me, the picture of my family at Disney and the memories that it invokes is worth much more to me than my old karate trophy!  You see, my karate trophy is a memory that only I have…  My family isn’t part of it so it has little meaning to them, but the family picture of when we went to Disney, everybody remembers.  The karate trophy was one day in my life, whereas the Disney family picture was for a shared week for my family!

So while I like and value my karate trophy, I still value the photo of my family and I in Disney with Cinderella’s Castle in the background more so.

What common items have more value than your past trophies?  If there was a fire in my house and I had to choose between our Disney Family picture book or a my karate trophy, I wouldn’t even hesitate to grab the Disney family pictures…

-MR