My parents were Depression Era Babies. Born during the Great Depression and raised during WWII. A time when most people didn't have much and they learned to make do with what they had. WWII brought shortages so these children coming into adulthood still had to make do. As they grew up they learned to save and reuse.
My parents were also very settled. Once they had got their education and jobs, they settled down and raised their family never moving again. As did my grandparents. Where did this lead? To a house full of stuff - toys, photos, furniture and all kinds of treasures.
As my parents aged they and us kids have begun to realize that sooner or later something has to be done with decades of accumulation. You may have heard the stories of a friend or relative who passed on and the family had to get the home cleaned out and sold. Maybe you have been through it yourself.
Sadly often it has to be done over the course of a few days or a few short weeks. The family lives out of town, time is limited, sometimes they just want to be done with it. The contents, treasures, memories are thrown out, auctioned off, put in a garage sale. It's all just gone and it's really sad.
We have decided that we don't want it to end this way. So after years of slowly picking through things, it's time to get down to business. It will still be slow - but at least we are not rushed yet and the people who really know what is what are still around to tell us.
So it's time to get busy, see what's in this old house figure out what to do with all of it and how it can help us with our family history.
Copyright 2010, Michelle Goodrum
No comments:
Post a Comment