Just Dolls??

These dolls-I've had them since I was 6. Recently, I've noticed they needed a bath :-) While I was doing that, I couldn't stop thinking about the reasons I kept them all this time.
The blonde one has a sad story. It was a gift from a grieving mother. The doll is named Nicoleta. It belonged to a little girl, age 5. She was in the hospital at the same time I was. Both of us needed heart surgery. I survived(obviously), but Andreea, the little girl, didn't make it. I don't remember much, I was so young, but my mom told me Andreea's mother came to us with tears in her eyes and gave me the doll. She said I should have it, so that I could remember her daughter, and may be the doll would bring me joy just as it did for Andreea.
The second doll, named Sanziana, was another gift, around the same time. One of my cousins had one like that, and I liked it very much. My aunt promised that if I was to be a good girl at the hospital, she'd give me one as a present. When everything was over and we came back home, my aunt, uncle and cousins payd us a visit. They brought me a big cardboard box. Inside it, I discovered Sanziana.
I think I kept them because they remind me that I could have been dead, but I'm not! They remind me that I'm a survivor, more, they remind me I'M A FIGHTER! I think I'll never get rid of them, because I need something to remember who I defeated. I defeated death! Every time I look at Nicoleta and Sanziana, I remember that, and I remember Andreea...
I wonder what other items exist out in the world, to remind people of their small or great victories. What's yours?
P.S. It took me forever to comb Sanziana's freacking hair!! Only a doll can have that much hair! Haha!