Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Sometimes it works out

As most of you know, my sisters and I are in the process of cleaning out my parent's house. Not an easy task. This was the house where my parents, who were raised in the depression, lived for 55 years. Also, not to mention, raised four kids and stored things from my grandmother and aunt. This all resulted in a very full house. We are slowly making progress as we chip away at it when we have a chance to visit for a couple of days. Sometimes it's sad. Sometimes it's overwhelming, and sometimes it is poignant.


(Note about the pictures. I don't actually have any pictures of the items mentioned here. However, I've included pictures of other things we are sorting through. My sisters and I are doing a lot of picture sharing as we try to make decisions about different items since we're never all there at the same time.)


Some examples of when our work was poignant:

One day a woman was walking up the street that looked about my mother's size. We chatted with her and then gave her a bag of my mother's clothes. They fit and she was very thankful as she was an elderly woman on a fixed income with no extra money for clothes.


Another time, we had an old desk on the sidewalk for bulk trash pickup. It had suffered water damage and was literally in pieces. A woman stopped and asked if she could buy it because she planned to restore it to use. It turns out that her roommate's brother stole every single thing they had for drug money and she was starting over. We gave her the desk, a dresser, and kitchen things. She was very, very thankful and wanted to pay us or do some work for us. Of course, that was not necessary.

We gave another complete set of dishes to a family of 10 who just immigrated here from Africa with nothing. They had other dishes to use, but were thrilled to have a matching set of "nice" ones.

During the ill-fated yard sale (cold, rainy, and the gas company decided on that day to dig up and block the street) a childhood friend came to visit and look around. She was very happy to get an old metal tricycle that she was going to use as a coffee table base and old dresser. As she was remembering stories about my parents (best birthday parties, fun in Girl Scouts, etc.) she told a story about her mother that was her favorite. One time her mother and a friend decided they were going to go skiing. Neither had been skiing, but wanted an adventure and borrowed my father's skis for their trip. We were able to show our friend the actual skis her mother had used. She was very touched and teared up.


Yet another time, we gave an old Girl Scout scarf to a friend. It turns out that she still has lunch with friends from her the Girl Scout troop of her youth. She wore it to their next luncheon and is wearing it other times as a fashion statement. She was thrilled.

There are more stories like this, but I think those are enough for you to get an idea of what makes us smile during this onerous task of going through our parents things. And to keep us moving forward.


8 comments:

  1. Oh I know how difficult it is to go through a lifetime of accumulations and memories. It is a task I am not looking forward to when the time comes. We keep trying to get mother to declutter (get rid of some of the excess) to no avail.

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    1. I have known some people who have snuck things out of their parents house that they don't think they would miss. They hang onto them a little while to see if the their parent notices, then get rid of them. In fact, I have a friend that does that every time he visits his mother.

      However, at a certain point you just have to give in and realize sorting and purging will not happen until after they are gone.

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  2. You and your sisters have a hard job clearing out your parents' home. I'm glad you are able to share some of the items with others and these stories with us.

    I am hoping to be able to get rid of some of my things in order to make it easier for my daughter, when the time comes for her to clear out this house! I've a lot of stuff collected, over the years.

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    1. We got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved two years ago. However, we are slowly accumulating again. It's a never ending struggle. You're doing a good thing getting rid of extra things. I think both you and your daughter will appreciate it.

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  3. Those are fascinating stories that you can remember. Your mother would be happy.

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    1. We fluctuate between saying, "It's just stuff" to "Mother of Daddy would be so happy to know that X got that." It's not possible to find just the right place for everything, but it is nice when it works out.

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  4. Those are really great stories and outcomes.

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    1. There have been some other good placements with family and friends. Who knew that my cousin would be thrilled to get my grandmother's old treadle sewing machine? And a niece would be thrilled to be my mother's writing books? And another friend would be so happy to get old Tang jars? One man's trash really is another man's treasure.

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What do you think?