Thursday, July 26, 2007

Possessions

Yesterday was the end of an era: goodbye to the family home. It has taken us weeks to clear out years of stuff hoarded by my mother. Bills dating back to the 90s, cherished letters including a handmade birthday card from me aged 11 saying "Happy birthday - Twenty-one again!", ancient files, family wills, diaries, in fact, as my father's still virtually blind after his operation, we've had to bring four suitcases of papers to Winchester. NB: throw things away in life! On the last day, yesterday, we called in the house clearers and winced as we heard them smashing up wardrobes upstairs. Things which were dear to us were heading for a skip; once prized possessions, now discarded. I went upstairs to see how they were getting on. To my amazement, all that remained on the floor in my parents' bedroom was a pair of my mother's old shoes. We'd cleared out all her clothes ages ago so these must have been stuck behind her wardrobe. I looked at those familiar shoes and saw some familiar feet. I was as if it was the final farewell from her.

4 Comments:

Blogger kinglear said...

Makes one feel grown up at last.

8:28 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Winchester - My parents, very much alive, as of the 'hoarding' tendency as well, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to change them. It comes from the fact that they lived through the war, and 'waste not, want not' was very much the order of the day.

I can see a point in that - and I certainly think the environmental impact of a 'throwaway' society is dreadful - but the stress and hassle of having a load of clutter around is not easy to deal with.

I don't envy you your task at all, as the danger is that something very important will be thrown away with the less sentimental and prosaic stuff. Mind you, I am turning into a bit of a hoarder myself, so I suspect it is genetic.

I was impressed with that programme 'Life Laundry' a few years ago which aimed to help people clear out after, say, a divorce, and make a fresh start after years of putting it on the back burner.

The relief on the faces of the people after they had been through that trauma was palpable. That said, it must be moving to find that a handmade birthday card had been carefully preserved - I thought I was the only one who held on to such things.

8:59 am  
Blogger Eurodog said...

I am sorry, WW.

11:24 am  
Blogger Welshcakes Limoncello said...

I think the "clearing out" after a loss is very distressing. I do feel for you, WW.

4:24 pm  

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