Emotional attachment to objects - an AS thing?

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A few weeks ago we got a new GPS because the previous one stopped working. Under the default settings, the new one says "warning" whenever it detects that the car is going over the speed limit. My mom made a joke and said "I wonder how many people have tossed this thing out the window because it won't shut up." It kinda made me sick to think about that. It was only doing what it was programmed to do.

It's made me hate housefires. If there was a housefire, I would make my family go outside, and I would probably be inside, holding my breath, grabbing every object I can and throwing them out of the window or the front door. I just cannot stand to know that they are burning. Fire reminds me of evil, and I don't like the thought of precious object being tortured by the ''evil one''.

I've always been more attached to my toys than my own family. I was always telling people I did not need any friends because I had my stuffed animals. My stuffed animals may not have been able to love me back, but I didn't get much of this "love" from other people to begin with. My stuffed animals never rebuked me or made fun of me. I sometimes wonder if that song "Diamonds Are Forever" was written by someone with autism. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80A6MtPwj-Q[/youtube]
Just replace the word diamonds with plushies and that's pretty much how I felt about my plushies or stuffed animals as a kid.

When I was about 5 I had an important ear surgery and right before it, a nurse gave me a small stuffed animal dog. I loved it for years, and I still have it in my nightstand drawer but I don't mess with it anymore. A few months ago I stole a large pillow from my mom's ex-boyfriend. I hated the man but the pillow I love. I hug I while I sleep,kiss it(a peck like with a family member), I even have imaginary conversations with it. Being one of the famously contraversal "bronies" I named it after my favorite non-main character pony, Ditzy Do. I feel insane, but I have long ago accepted my fate of being crazy, makes my life all that much more interesting.

My pictures for how I feel about my stuff.

I'm very, very attached to my stuffed animals and die cast Car collection. I feel closer to them than I do to real people. Once, my die cast Cars were the only friends I had to talk to.

Once, the sump pump in my parents' basement malfunctioned, and the carpeted areas were soaked. It was during that time that my stepmom decided to take this plastic tote of stuffed animals that I had down there out to the garage.

I don't think that I have ever come as close to committing violence as I did as I watched her and my father take that plastic tote out to the garage.

I went out to the garage and got them all and brought them back in the house one night when they both went out, but I've never forgotten about that time.

I wonder why it was that whenever something needed changing, I was always the one who got hosed over and had to do all the accomodating?

It can happen to anybody, but I wouldn't say it's a normal thing, and maybe it makes sense that it can be more commonly known with people on the spectrum. I have an attachment to objects. I always personify objects, thinking they are all alive in some way and don't want to be thrown away, although I do know it's extremely irrational. I think Toy Story has a huge affect on these feelings (although I can't admit this to NTs because they will criticise that ''only children believe that, you're old enough to know it's just a film'').

Not only I feel sorry for objects, I feel sorry for everything. For example, if I said, ''I don't like it below 3 celcius in winter'', I then picture a very sorry-looking 2 in my head, then go, ''all right, 2 celcius is OK, I guess.'' Then I picture a sorry-looking 1 in my head, and go, ''ohh, I've got to draw the line somewhere!''

OH! It's all insane!

Books,I remember every person that "borrowed" one and never returned it and the title of the book.I'm still p.o about them.I also get real testy if people move or rearrange my things.I had a stuffed animal,Daisy the cow ,that I had since before I remember and my ex threw her away .I was heartbroken.There was also a beautiful robin egg blue plate that I loved as a child and my mom dropped it on the floor and it broke in a thousand pieces and I started screaming,they panicked and thought a shard had flown up and cut me but no,I was just devastated over the loss of my favorite plate.

I have a 'monchichi' (a kind of stuffed monkey, with a plastic face and plastic hands and feet) since birth that I am still incredibly attached to. It helped me through some really tough patches in my life, it pops up in my dreams, I still hold it to calm myself down or to fall asleep (by rubbing the cold plastic parts)... and I'm 32 now. I'd run into a burning building to retrieve it.

Once, a particularly abusive ex who knew how important it was to me but didn't quite understand emotionally, took it home with her to spite me or punish me for breaking it off with her. I went into a terrible fit, drove to her house while screaming at the top of my voice in the car, and called the police when she wouldn't open up for me.

I would never have done any of that for other stuff, which I'm a lot less attached to (I've moved houses for at least 8 times the last 10 years, so you're forced to become selective in your possessions), but that monkey... as ragged and frail as it is... my God.

I'm emotionally attached to my books. Getting rid of one is almost traumatic.

Oh yes. I get irrationally attached to inanimate objects all the time. I left my water bottle on a bus like the scatter brained person I am, and when I got home and realised I'd left it behind, I panicked. My mum got really mad and started yelling at me to stop being immature and boy did THAT not help at all.

My more understanding friends from school (I major in psychology so people are generally nicer about things) said they'd go to the store with me to get a new one, but it's just not the same :\ It's like losing a part of your life or a companion, a bit, and it still makes me feel awful to think of the fact that it's either been taken by someone (it was a really pretty flower patterned aluminum bottle), or is all lonely in a heap of stuff left behind on busses. The thought of it having been thrown away is unbearable, so I don't like to think about that.

But it's not just the nice looking bottles. I left an ordinary disposable one in a mall when I was younger, and the same thing happened. I actually freaked out so much that I was begging my parents let me go back to look for it, and I cried the whole night because I couldn't find it. It seems silly to everyone I know because they think it's just such a trivial thing, but I've never been able to not care about my things and the anxiety I face at losing them is horribly real.

I have a bad connection to inanimate objects. I'm only 13 and tend to stray from people in general? I had a wubble bubble (basically a ballon) for 7 months and when he (yes hes a he) popped, i cried and felt empty for a few days? I dont know how to help you?

I have very strong attachments to certain things I own such as my rock collection and the thought of someone who does not know the significance of certain rocks just going through and throwing them out would infuriate me. I have found that over the years other things haven't held that much importance and if given a choice I would definitely let those things go as opposed to the rocks and minerals I own. For some reason certain pieces of jewelry do not have the same effect on me as others or the rock specimens. I still do cry over lost pieces and would feel highly violated by someone trying to reorganize my specimens.

I don't think so, I think it happens to most people.