I'm teaching Marilynne Robinson's book Housekeeping, now, which is all about impermanence and loss, and so as a thought experiment I asked my students to list some of the precious things they've lost. Here are a few of their responses:

• All the pets I've ever had
• My memories of India
• My trust in my mother (she married a bad man)
• My rabbit, Angel -- eaten by dog
• My friend, Aaron - car crash
• The castle spire that rose from the trees behind my house--turned out to be only a radio tower
• My homework
• The respect I held for one teacher
• My home, to a fire
• My great grandmother's bumble bee earrings.
• The idea that my parents know everything
• Balloons that flew away
• My best friend Anthony, when he drowned a few years ago
• My perfect discipline record (the Principal made me spend the whole day in an isolated office b/c she saw a poem I wrote in gifted class and thought I practiced wicca, clearly a religion that requires unchecked punishment)
• My grandpa
• A Christmas tape my mom played every night (year round) so I could fall asleep.