Yeah, just bring yer stuff to my sorting center…
So many of my friends and acquaintances are in the process of clearing out their last surviving parent’s house in preparation for selling it. I am sure that I have posted before (probably ad infinitum ad nauseam) about how exhausting this work is. In my particular case, The Commander was an anti-hoarder who spent the last five years of her life purging things so that I[-ee-I-ee-I] would not have a mess to clean up.
It is still hard. Even though… 1) Lizard Breath moved to Fabulous Ferndale after her grandmother died and took a bunch, well, stuff. 2) The GG, who has about a billion years of vacation time saved up, has spent about a billion hours of said vacation time coming up here and dredging out the remaining stuff in The Commander’s house. I think the GG is on a first name basis with Habitat for Humanity up here in the Sault. I wonder if, in his wildest childhood dreams, he ever thought he would end up spending time up here in the yooperland..
Probably 90% of all of The Comm’s possessions are in the moomincabin garage now. There are a few things left to schlep out here or wherever. I am tinking away at what’s in the garage. Throw it out? Recycle? Organize organize organize. Put things together that belong together…
One of my small victories today was finding a stray volume of the Time/Life Foods of the Worlds series and reuniting it with its comrades. It was a small thing but I gave myself a little high-five.
The thing is, all of you who are my age and older… What do you want your kids to have to sort through? The Commander did an absolutely wonderful job of sorting things out before she died and I love her for that. There is still stuff. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff. But it could be a lot worse. And wouldn’t you know, our beautiful old gal left all of us this gorgeous cabin up here on the shores of Gitchee Gumee. So, who the heck can complain…
I am done for now. We are gonna eat dinner and then take Pooh over to get Porterized. Fun fun fun.
That doesn’t mean we are just throwing everything out. On the contrary.
July 6th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
My sister was up from lower Michigan this week and brought me an old jewelry box that belonged to my mother who passed 16 years ago. It has a set of her earrings in it. She also brought a crocheted coverlet that was used by my dad (1916-1990) when he was a wee one. My grandmother made it, and I love it. 😉
July 6th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
No matter how much someone gets rid of, there is still STUFF. My MIL was sort of a hoarder and it was a nightmare to deal with what she left. My husband is trying to go through some of his “treasures” now and fling what he can. I should do the same, but still feel so YOUNG. I don’t want to think about it yet!