Cleaning - and Keeping

My parents are getting on in years and Mom’s thoughts have recently turned to cleaning out the house. She wants us kids to have certain things before the two of them pass on. One, she wants the joy of seeing us get the stuff we can use/like/want and two, they’re going to downsize soon and this will be less she has to pack/get rid of later.

The problem is, I’m at the same stage. I’ve been going through our own attic and consolidating and donating “stuff” for the past year. My husband and I have been married for thirty-two years (come this June) and we’ve managed to amass FAR too many possessions over the years.

Some of what I’ve kept is for my kids’ places, when they get them. When Steven and I first married, we decorated with a combination of Early Garage Sale and Parent’s Attic. It was great! Mismatched table lamps, a gaudy couch that didn’t match anything, a kitchen table that had seen several generations of newlyweds – they all found a home with us. When our kids leave us, many of those same items will move on a generation further.

Which is why I came home from my parents’ cleaning with a trunk full. Some 1000-piece puzzles we’ll make and pass on, a table that my mom remembers being her mother’s, more than one bottle of liquor (unopened and old...but then, whiskey never goes bad, right?)...all things we’ll use or use up and a few things we’ll pass on to our kids when they leave.

Because, no matter how old we get, sentiment gets us – and more stuff comes into the house.

Sigh.

Play safe!

Diana