For Souvenir Purposes Only

I already started sorting out things in the basement that we'll probably get rid off.  Until now, I still cannot believe how much stuff my husband owns.  It's like, every time I go downstairs, I always find something new. And we've been here for almost 3 years now!

A few days ago, I was going through his stuff that were in the plastic drawer downstairs, when I found two xikar lighters that were buried underneath a pile of photos and things he bought while he was on deployment.  Well, those were new to me.  I haven't seen them before, and neither do I have any clue why my husband would have something like that.  I looked at the lighters carefully, and noticed that they each has been engraved differently with something that, I believe, has to do with the place where he might have gotten them from.  Regardless, I took both of them and showed him when he got home.  I asked him why he has cigar lighters when he doesn't even smoke.

His initial reaction puzzled me.  The look in his eyes was more of "What's that?", and "Where did you find those?"  I knew it.  He forgot about them, like his other things that he had no idea he had with him all along.  I handed him the items and he told me he got those from a country as souvenir items.  He said, he hasn't seen anything like them before, that's why he bought them.  But, because he went straight to the Philippines to visit me right after that deployment, he had to ship his other stuff back to the States, and he never really went through any them again.  That's why he hardly remembers everything he actually bought.

The lighters were still in their original box when I found them, and they haven't been used.  I asked him what he wanted me to do with them, and he told me it was all up to me.  But, because I know he bought them as souvenir, I decided to put them back where I got them from.  I don't know if he'll be able to find the same ones again, so better yet, hold on to them for now.  I'll let him decide on what to do with them.  After all, those are his stuff.

Just to clarify something, my husband doesn't smoke at all.  Like me, he's also allergic to cigarette smoke.  And honestly, the lighter, especially the gray one, has a really neat design, that's why he bought them.  I think even people who don't smoke would probably get it, like what my husband did - as a souvenir.  I might have done the same thing, too.  I even have bought some things before that I didn't use, haven't used, and will never use.  I did it anyway because I liked the design and their uniqueness.

You wouldn't believe what other things my husband got!  He even bought a bamboo thing that's used to clean your ear, from Japan.  It's still in its packaging, and I doubt he'll even want to do anything with it.  Like the other stuff he bought, he just got it for souvenir purposes only.