LJ Idol Season 11: Boondoggle

[xlovebecomesher]

My Bubby collected little glass figurines that she kept in her curio. Elephants, flamingos, little tea cups, she had it all. She was also fond of ornate lipstick cases that she carried her red lipstick in. I swore when I grew up, I was going to be just like her and carry my lipstick around just like her just so I could have pretty cases. She had

Comments

[weebleswobble]

when my gramma was moved into a nursing home my mom and aunt cleaned out her apartment and there were boxes of avon plates. my mom asked me to see if they were worth anything. there were TONS of them on ebay. no one wanted them, not even for free

[xlovebecomesher]

No one seems to want Avon things.

I'm glad they made a will - it makes things easier.

I love that you donated your books to the library and it's in their collection!

[karmasoup]

My grandmuvver collected little porcelain figurines... my folks are from the silent generation, so she is from whichever is before that... I used to get her more of the figurines she liked for birthdays, grandparents days, Christmases, etc... my Mom would chastise me. "Don't get her more of that junk!" she'd say. "She doesn't need any more clutter taking up space in her house. There's barely enough room in there for her as it is." But Mom didn't understand. Grandmuvver loved every single one of those. Each one had a name, and a memory attached to it. She knew who had given it to her, and when, or what she had been doing when she bought it, and with whom, and why. Their value wasn't in what they could be sold for. It was entirely in how they made her feel. And that was worth whatever price I paid for it. Past her life, but for the few that were sentimental to someone else in our family, they had no value at all, as they could no longer impact her feelings. But while she was still with us, I would never have deprived her of

[xlovebecomesher]

Your Grandmuvver sounds like a very sweet lady :)

[unbound_ophelia]

This was such a sweet entry. I also think it is sad to throw out items that still have sentimental value, like photo albums. It's a different thing with like, stuff that obviously has no use like old magazines or so, but old pictures are so valuable.

[xlovebecomesher]

Pictures are so valuable!

[rayaso]

This was such a nice entry, full of memories, and I'm glad you shared them with us. It is hard to get rid of some things because of the memories attached to them. Having a new baby can be a great motivator in paring things down in order to make room for the new life. This was so sweet!

[xlovebecomesher]

It is so hard to get rid things even things I've collected over the years!

[halfshellvenus]

only for it one day to be discarded after you've passed away because someone else did not see the value in what you had.
So much of that, I think, is often about feelings as much as it is about things. You're collecting mementos that remind you of people, places, and endeavors, and they have a much richer 'context' or 'association' for you than they ever will for anyone else.

But at the same time, we can't help feeling guilty for not quite grasping or for not fully embracing all of that importance when it involves someone else's things. I understand both sides of that, because I try not to packrat (and yet I know I have too many things of my own), and I know there will definitely be tons of things from my parents' house that I will never want. Some of them, they already tried to give to me!

[xlovebecomesher]

But at the same time, we can't help feeling guilty for not quite grasping or for not fully embracing all of that importance when it involves someone else's things.

So true!!!