I've been putting this one off.
I have not really dealt well, or what some people could call "healthily", concerning the passing of my mother... which happened November 18, 2005. Yeah 8 years ago.
I had been mostly okay.. though I could not go back to her house to visit my step father to let my kids see their papaw. I just could not be in that house when she wasn't there. I didn't want to see it changed. It was bad enough the last time I was there to pick up the things she'd left me, like ALL of her china... the china that had been on display and decorated her kitchen for years... it was all gone. packed in boxes. Nope. I just couldn't go back again. The kids still saw papaw at family reunions and holiday things.
He just passed this past summer, and his house was to go to his step daughter from his first marriage years ago. So, without me even knowing, my brother and sister went to the house and got everything out. Only notice I got was my sister texting me to tell me they were there and did I want all the boxes of crap from my old room... So I asked them to please get them and I also requested a certain quilt and her set of pyrex mixing bowls. Well, I got the quilt, some random craft supplies and 4 boxes of stuff marked Patty.
I'd gone through the boxes when we got home with them (after I had to drive to my sister's to get them.) One box was stock pots and some utensils I remembered from my childhood. I don't think I own anything that's lasted as long as my kids have been alive. They don't make them like that anymore. Those utensils are now hanging on display - and get used!- in my kitchen. The other 3 boxes were things from my room when I was at college. Mom packed up my room when she decided to move in with my step dad. I came home one weekend and my room was empty. It was traumatizing. I didn't even realize at the time, there were boxes she'd packed that I never opened... until a few weeks ago. I did a quick perusal of them, felt a flood of emotions, and closed them back up. They sat in a corner of my room until today.
Actually, it's 4 boxes. The smaller brown box held all of my yearbooks from Kindergarten through middle school. They're now on the bookshelf. I just can't throw them away.
Then I tackled the big boxes a little at a time. I started before work, and have been working on them on breaks during work as well. I didn't think to get pictures of the stuff spread all over my bed as I sorted one box at a time. It's mostly papers... scrapbooks. I've always been a fangirl. Ever seen Tumblr? Well, my life was like that, only all done with construction paper and glue and never actually seen by anyone but me. I actually decided to keep one scrapbook. I'll eventually throw it away I'm sure, but for now it stays. I'm totally not telling you who it was about. :P
One box held two things I hadn't though of in years and about floored me when I saw them. A stuffed rabbit and a doll that most people would think is creepy and straight out of a horror movie, but I loved it and played with it anyway. I thought it was cool that its eyes closed when it laid down.
The doll originally belonged to the old landowner of the plantation my grandparents' farm was carved from. When she passed away, I remember going to her house for an auction. I don't know if that's when I got it, or if she gave it to me before she passed. Regardless, it's OLD. The rabbit I think also came from the same place. It was old when I got it, but loved it and played with it all the time, and Mom always repaired it and put new buttons on it for eyes. They have been packed, lovingly wrapped up, in a box in Mom's house since 1988. They now have a home in a bushel basket sitting on the quilt I got from Mom's too. I can't put the quilt on the bed or the dogs would ruin it. I do use it for naps and for snuggling up in my chair though. :)
I've thrown away gobs of notes and letters. Remember passing notes in the hallways at school? We didn't have texting back then. notes last forever, let me tell you. It was painful to read some of them, so I just dumped them all. I don't need to go through teenage angst again. I have enough 43 yr old angst.
There's also school stuff, including a paper I did on my grandmother when I had to interview her. Very glad to have found that.
Then, there's the photos. Not the well organized and beautiful albums that Mom painstakingly kept over the years. No, these are hundreds or thousands of snapshots - mostly from her time after marrying my step father. So, I guess my brother and sister have all the photos of my childhood. Wonder if I'll ever get any of those back...
One thing I did notice though was the things Mom took photos of. There's got to be hundreds of photos of her flower beds... of her and her husband doing farm work... or her bedrooms after decorating them, of her living room and kitchen in various seasons... and I realized, Mom was a blogger without a computer!
Fortunately, I have a scanner, so I am going to scan in a bunch of these, and may do a whole series of Mom's gardens and home and how happy she was during her years with my step dad. I don't think she was terribly happy before him, but he really did make her happy. I wish I'd been a better human being to him.
Well, anyway, now it's all down to one box in my closet, mostly all photos. I've got some archive photo boxes that I'll sort them into eventually.. I'll probably scan them as I do that. It'll be a big job. Sounds like a good job for a nice cold fall day. If we ever get a nice cold fall day...
Oh, also, I wanted to show that sideboard that the girls' stuff had been all over yesterday..
Since they cleared it off, and I had found the bag of what little fall decor I have, I put up the ribbon and garland on the mirror and set out the purple and orange candle holders and a few sprigs of leaves. Might help it stay cleared off longer. :)
How's your 31 days coming along?
I have not really dealt well, or what some people could call "healthily", concerning the passing of my mother... which happened November 18, 2005. Yeah 8 years ago.
I had been mostly okay.. though I could not go back to her house to visit my step father to let my kids see their papaw. I just could not be in that house when she wasn't there. I didn't want to see it changed. It was bad enough the last time I was there to pick up the things she'd left me, like ALL of her china... the china that had been on display and decorated her kitchen for years... it was all gone. packed in boxes. Nope. I just couldn't go back again. The kids still saw papaw at family reunions and holiday things.
He just passed this past summer, and his house was to go to his step daughter from his first marriage years ago. So, without me even knowing, my brother and sister went to the house and got everything out. Only notice I got was my sister texting me to tell me they were there and did I want all the boxes of crap from my old room... So I asked them to please get them and I also requested a certain quilt and her set of pyrex mixing bowls. Well, I got the quilt, some random craft supplies and 4 boxes of stuff marked Patty.
I'd gone through the boxes when we got home with them (after I had to drive to my sister's to get them.) One box was stock pots and some utensils I remembered from my childhood. I don't think I own anything that's lasted as long as my kids have been alive. They don't make them like that anymore. Those utensils are now hanging on display - and get used!- in my kitchen. The other 3 boxes were things from my room when I was at college. Mom packed up my room when she decided to move in with my step dad. I came home one weekend and my room was empty. It was traumatizing. I didn't even realize at the time, there were boxes she'd packed that I never opened... until a few weeks ago. I did a quick perusal of them, felt a flood of emotions, and closed them back up. They sat in a corner of my room until today.
Actually, it's 4 boxes. The smaller brown box held all of my yearbooks from Kindergarten through middle school. They're now on the bookshelf. I just can't throw them away.
Then I tackled the big boxes a little at a time. I started before work, and have been working on them on breaks during work as well. I didn't think to get pictures of the stuff spread all over my bed as I sorted one box at a time. It's mostly papers... scrapbooks. I've always been a fangirl. Ever seen Tumblr? Well, my life was like that, only all done with construction paper and glue and never actually seen by anyone but me. I actually decided to keep one scrapbook. I'll eventually throw it away I'm sure, but for now it stays. I'm totally not telling you who it was about. :P
One box held two things I hadn't though of in years and about floored me when I saw them. A stuffed rabbit and a doll that most people would think is creepy and straight out of a horror movie, but I loved it and played with it anyway. I thought it was cool that its eyes closed when it laid down.
 |
| Told you it was scary. |
 |
| Not so scary now. :) |
The doll originally belonged to the old landowner of the plantation my grandparents' farm was carved from. When she passed away, I remember going to her house for an auction. I don't know if that's when I got it, or if she gave it to me before she passed. Regardless, it's OLD. The rabbit I think also came from the same place. It was old when I got it, but loved it and played with it all the time, and Mom always repaired it and put new buttons on it for eyes. They have been packed, lovingly wrapped up, in a box in Mom's house since 1988. They now have a home in a bushel basket sitting on the quilt I got from Mom's too. I can't put the quilt on the bed or the dogs would ruin it. I do use it for naps and for snuggling up in my chair though. :)
I've thrown away gobs of notes and letters. Remember passing notes in the hallways at school? We didn't have texting back then. notes last forever, let me tell you. It was painful to read some of them, so I just dumped them all. I don't need to go through teenage angst again. I have enough 43 yr old angst.
There's also school stuff, including a paper I did on my grandmother when I had to interview her. Very glad to have found that.
Then, there's the photos. Not the well organized and beautiful albums that Mom painstakingly kept over the years. No, these are hundreds or thousands of snapshots - mostly from her time after marrying my step father. So, I guess my brother and sister have all the photos of my childhood. Wonder if I'll ever get any of those back...
One thing I did notice though was the things Mom took photos of. There's got to be hundreds of photos of her flower beds... of her and her husband doing farm work... or her bedrooms after decorating them, of her living room and kitchen in various seasons... and I realized, Mom was a blogger without a computer!
Fortunately, I have a scanner, so I am going to scan in a bunch of these, and may do a whole series of Mom's gardens and home and how happy she was during her years with my step dad. I don't think she was terribly happy before him, but he really did make her happy. I wish I'd been a better human being to him.
Well, anyway, now it's all down to one box in my closet, mostly all photos. I've got some archive photo boxes that I'll sort them into eventually.. I'll probably scan them as I do that. It'll be a big job. Sounds like a good job for a nice cold fall day. If we ever get a nice cold fall day...
Oh, also, I wanted to show that sideboard that the girls' stuff had been all over yesterday..
Since they cleared it off, and I had found the bag of what little fall decor I have, I put up the ribbon and garland on the mirror and set out the purple and orange candle holders and a few sprigs of leaves. Might help it stay cleared off longer. :)
How's your 31 days coming along?