Do you know how to fit more than 2800 sq. ft of stuff into a 900-sq. ft apartment?
Me neither, but apparently my mom does. We threw out dumpsters full of stuff (it seems), and have an entire room of the apartment filled with donation goods and furniture - yet the volume of priceless family heirlooms and unused crafting supplies to be saved has surpassed our house and garage and is threatening to encroach on the neighbor's property.
I'm joking, of course. Mom isn't one of those crazy packrat ladies you see on the news. Not saying that she wouldn't be one in 10 years without our intervention, but her place was clean and not crowded and very liveable. It just seems like she fit everything that was stored in the basement, garage, and all the closets of my childhood home into the 2 closets in her apartment. Amazing. I had no idea.
We've had laughter and a few tears over old photos, silly gifts from years past, and many memories of my Dad. We even unearthed a few treasures, including my grandmother's christening gown, which was handmade by her mother in 1910, we figure.
Many of the items I considered priceless as a child will never get us the feature spot on the Antiques Roadshow, much to George's chagrin.
We just have a few items to bring over, and a last little cleanup and we're done. It's almost exactly 5 years since Mom and Dad first moved from Philadelphia into this little apartment, to be near us and enjoy retirement. Well, that wasn't how it was meant to be, so here we are. I think we're doing just fine.
Before I start back to work next Wednesday, I've decided to take one night away at a hotel in Galveston, just to be alone, clear my head, and do some serious thinking about how I want my life to be. I have some things I must include, others that may need to go, and still others that I want to add. The best thing I've learned over the past few months is: I can decide how I want to weave these things together into the life that I design.
And that, my friends, is a huge lesson.
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2 comments:
Sinan's parents live in a three bedroom apartment. In Turkey there is no built-in storage, everything is tucked away in cabinets. His mother has the most extraordinary collection of crap in her bedroom-- only you wouldn't know it by peeking in there. Almost every time we visit she will come out with some "treasure" that she wants to give Sunaliza: sweaters she knit 25 years ago that no teenager would ever touch, entire bedspreads from the 1950s, clothes Sinan wore in college, dresses she wore in the 70s. It's amazing. And slightly horrifying. Sunaliza is kind enough to accept everything with a smile and a thanks. bless her. Sinan outright rejects things (the avocado velour bedspread). I'm somewhere in between.
When my dad died and my mom moved house, she got rid of the good stuff and left me a big box of things like unopened boxes of 20 year old tampons. Very strange.
Congratulations on making it through the decrapification process! A giant step for daughterhood.
My mom is very good at saving things. (although I don't believe I would EVER find an unopened box of 20 year old tampons - that is amazing!) Keith's mom, on the other hand is the queen of craptastic collection. The amazing finds that Katie's mil can come up with sound very much like what Keith's mom would unveil for Keli during our visits there.
No grandchild of mine will ever be thrilled/chilled by such finds from me. I'm the 'chuck it all!' champ, mostly because I hate the clutter and my memory is so craptacular that I have very few connections to anything at all. Much to the chagrin of family and friends, unfortunately.
Congratulations, dear. So happy that you were able to meet the deadline on that enormous task. And now you are taking this getaway for yourself and doing some decluttering of your mind. Wonderful.
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