Legacies of stuff.

[mellymell]

I feel like the space between moments grows smaller and smaller and my task list and catalog of commitments only seems to grow larger. I'm busy getting ready for a craft show three weeks from tomorrow. Chris has been amazing, taking up so much of the housework that he practically only leaves me with the task to create. But I have other obligations

Comments

[padawansguide]

Yeah, really not fun stuff to deal with. :-/ *hugs*

[mellymell]

It's just odd. You don't think about all this stuff when you lose someone, until you're faced with the practical matters of dealing with their estate. Makes me want to have a smaller estate to be dealt with, that's for sure.

[aranel13]

Pass them on to another member of the family or one of their friends, specifically because they belonged to your loved ones.

[mellymell]

I'm pretty much the only girl on in these two branches of the family. Not an easy task to find a new member to inherit them. As for friends of theirs, my grandmother's list of friends ran thin a long time ago as they almost all passed away before her and I never really knew any of my stepmother's friends. Women who have married into the family have already had their take and passed these things over. Maybe one day I'll just leave them at their grave sites and let come what may.

[laughingmagpie]

This is a beautiful gesture... it reminds me of how I inherited a huge number of Indian saris from my mother-in-law. I reserve them to make quilts or pillows etc for friends and family, and I really like the idea of her presence being there to console or provide warmth or whimsy to people through them.

[mellymell]

Aw, that's so sweet!

[mellymell]

Thank you for sharing! That's so wonderful

[yocepha]

I have no advice at all, as I am currently buried in my parents' things and have no idea where to even start. This is what comes from moving "back home" to care for Daddy for the rest of his life. Which I did, and have no regrets, but now I find that I've become the caretaker for all his books (we're talking thousands) and other stuff, and tending boxes of Mother's things that have been here, untouched, for almost 20 years. My sister is no help; "You should keep that!" is her only response when I ask her to sort through some things with me. Plus none of it would fit in her perfectly-groomed and impeccably decorated house, but then that's just me being snotty. *hugs*

[mellymell]

*hugs* I definitely feel your frustration and the overwhelming nature of that task. When I went through a lot of my mom's things, I got told that I should have kept things that no one wanted, they just didn't want to get rid of them for no reason in particular. And then I wondered how much of that would fall to me being her only daughter. But I just kept coming back to feeling like so much of it didn't really mean anything to me and so why should I keep it?

Kind of like these necklaces. I have things both women gave to me with me in mind. I have things I cherish from both of them. These necklaces... I just don't feel any attachment to, despite them being my creations. So I'll probably toss them into a jewelry box to be rediscovered some day when I'm more distant from the loss. I feel like I'll know what to do with them at a later date, perhaps.