It's raining. Then it will be snowing. Ah, well. Minnesota in March. The son of my parent's longtime neighbor messaged me to say his mother and sister (she never left home) are moving into a townhouse. This family moved into the neighborhood maybe forty years ago, so they were not there when I was, but they got to know my parents and helped them out quite a bit. Through this I grew to know them to a degree. As I understand it, the mother is a 'collector' of stuff. Lots of it. So, the son said he and another sister are working on her to let go. He updated me to say she's doing better than they thought, but it's a process. There is another neighbor that's been there maybe ten years longer, but I never really got to know them. This is the coming end to an era. My mother was the last of the originals. I'm glad they have the foresight to move now. It's hard to let go.
8 comments:
I wish they'd just leave the damn time alone. One way or another. My parents are still in denial about their 'stuff'. They're never going to use things like the cast iron cookware again. Neither one can lift it. As soon as our 'barnacles ' move out, we plan a major downsize.
Ami, my parent's house took me 8 months to get ready for sale. Most of that time was spent clearing it out. I go through a purge about once a year. We still have too much, but we have done better at getting rid of the 'junk'. There's a lot of furniture. Barnacles! HA!
These stories are why I winnow. I don't want my son stuck with a cleaning job. I've already rehomed, in the last three years, the equivalent of a large room jammed with good stuff you couldn't just toss. I'm getting it to just what I actually use.
I try to go back to it every year, Boud. I find somethings I couldn’t let go the year before I can the next year. About 5 yrs ago I gave away 20 tablecloth. I bet I still have about that much. I have 3 sets of China. Like I need 3 sets of China. You’ve been doing a fantastic job of thoughtful elimination.
Downsizing is hard, I must do some again as it has been about three years since I did it last. I dislike the time change too:(
I've never lived in a large space as an adult and so regularly purge. What comes in now is mostly groceries and cat supplies. I have a book habit but those are digital so do not take up space. I have declared a moratorium on book buying and get most of them online from my library. The tome change has been a pain for me and the cat.
Far Side, it is. I haven't done any for awhile. But then, I haven't done much of anything for awhile! I am not living in DST, I get up and go to bed when I do.
e, my home for the past 3 decades is spacious but not large. Just large enough to have a lot of furnishings. I also have a book habit and started using the library for digital books last year. It's a fantastic service. Animals don't like this, either.
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