What a weekend! We spent Saturday helping Grandma move furniture out of her now-sold condo. Sunday John and I took EP back for a last load. The condo is clean, tidy and empty. What a process. Little sleep, much physical activity, and continuous fast food makes for a bad headache on Monday, I've learned. And I'll be in bed hours before usual tonight!
It's an interesting process, though. It's fascinating watching how people handle such a move. This is the last house Grandma will likely own; at 95, we don't see her buying another one. 95 years of memories to sort through and then fit into half of a bedroom. We went through closets, trunks, drawers, cabinets and cupboards and found many treasures.
Like the Queen Elizabeth cups. Grandpa's family was from England, and one part lives in Canada, still attached to the Commonwealth. China was a common hostess gift when they came to visit. I loved going to Grandma's as a girl and drinking tea out of the Coronation commemorative mugs; especially the Lune one. See, Elizabeth was crowned in June, but the manufacturer got one of the cups wrong; it says, "Lune." When Grandma moved into the condo and weeded some things out, she was getting rid of the coronation mugs, and I took the Lune one. When Elizabeth had her 25th anniversary in 1977, I had to get a commemorative mug. And, yes, I have one from 2002 and the 50th anniversary of her coronation. They're worthless, but they're memories.
And her china, which I also was blessed to receive. It also was a hostess gift, over the years, from Canadian cousins.
She had a closet full of vintage dresses. My uncle attended a military academy, and they attended a few parties and balls there. Beautiful things, two of which Mary was happy to snag. The rest are planned for the thrift store; unless Polly wants pictures??? My hairdresser actually has temporary plans for them; she wants to dress her "girls" in them, take pictures, and frame the pictures to decorate the shop. That'll be fun for me!
And yet, so much of what she had was dismissed as "junk" by some of the relatives helping this weekend. You know, someone actually wondered if we should pitch the 30+ year old Kitchen Aid mixer which still works perfectly? Pitch it? Go figure. The dishes, the furniture, the blankets, clothes and shoes. Many of those had to be rescued from the trash; some of us thought they should be thrift store finds for someone and a tax deduction for Grandma, not something she had to pay the garbageman to take away.
It made me think of my stuff. I have, over the years, tried to declutter, sell off or give away things that we really don't need, and pare down to "just the bare necessities." But, still, we FILL this 11 room house to overflowing. The attic...oh, my, the attic. It's been even scarier with a husband out of work; what if it actually comes down to having to sell this place? I really think I'll just have a sale and get rid of it all. But what if something horrible should happen and my kids have to do it? If it comes to that, I'm really sorry, guys. One of you hang on to that Lune cup, OK?
2 comments:
Oooo, Elephantschild would also like to see some pictures of those dresses!
Sometimes I worry that I have done too much clearing out of stuff over the years. I hate clutter, so I am always trying to get rid of things so they don't pile up. But then I find myself thinking that maybe I should have held on to this or that, if only so someone could someday have the pleasure of pulling it out of a box or chest and remembering a time past.
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