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Downsizing, To Move or Not to Move? That is the Question
Aging Well | Last Active: Mar 23 9:13pm | Replies (473)Comment receiving replies
I agree, @davej. It is just stuff with memories. My mom and I are having a good time going through her stuff bit by bit and talking through the memories as we sort, throw out, and give away. I'm glad that we're doing this now before I have to do it on my own. But part of me also wonders if I'd appreciate the wandering through memories when she's gone. I could and probably should take pictures of the most important memories I wish to hold tight and revisit. Food for thought. I wish I were more organized with my digital photos. That would be a good place to start.
Replies to "I agree, @davej. It is just stuff with memories. My mom and I are having a..."
Old photos are so much fun. During the worst of Covid19 quarantining, I opened up Ancestry.com and uploaded photos and learned of my family, but this was an adventure for me, because of my adoption. I was adopted through a closed adoption. My birth name is Molly, I found my siblings at age 50, too late in life, I wish I'd known them sooner! They were looking for Molly. I'm thinking of changing my legal name to Molly, I love the name, I love knowing my 1/2 brothers and sisters. I'm blessed with 2 families.
Oh, @colleenyoung, What you wrote that "It is just stuff with memories" is sooo true and could be a mantra for those of us who find parting with "emotional memory stuff" particularly challenging!
After both of my parents died, it was incredibly difficult for me to sell my "forever childhood home". While we'd disposed of some things during the last years of my mom's life, the thought of "giving up" the home they'd lived in since my birth was a very difficult decision to reach and took me a few months to do. Your suggestion of taking photos of those items of most important memories is one I heartily endorse.
Pictures I took as my daughter and I continued to clear my parents' home found their way into a specific album and they triggered written stories of escapades my lifelong childhood neighbor friend and I had great fun doing over the years. From the backyard treehouse to "guiding the family car down the sloping drive into a neighbor's window air conditioner as my older friend was 'teaching' me how to drive, to perching on the garage roof to "spy" on a neighbor who we'd determined was peddling nat'l security secrets to Russia and the floor to ceiling bookcase over my bed which allowed me to leave the light on longer because I was "reading", photos can capture memories in an evocative way.
My dad and I were fast buddies and one of the things I most regretted after his death was that I had no recording of his voice. As a result, I made several recordings with my mom recounting family history and her childhood. These were done using a tape recorder which I've kept. Now their are visual and other media options available.
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Great to do it now so you can ask questions. Every once In a while a relative might find a picture or a piece of artwork and ask if anybody knows a story behind it. Sometimes nobody knows on pictures so we make up a story and write in on back that gets a laugh sometimes. Have a blessed day dave