Stuff

I decided to lighten it up a little bit. Hope you like the new look!



I can't believe it's almost the end of June and this is my first post in June. Well, I believe I have a good reason and this reason has given me some life lessons.



This month my husband and I have been helping to prepare his mother for a big move. His dad passed away very unexpectedly last February and just having to learn to live without him has been a huge adjustment for Mom. They would have celebrated 60 years together in April. We felt that she was doing very well, relying heavily on her belief that he is now in a perfect place and soon she will join him there. The unfortunate reality though was that her children had to urge her to consider a move to a smaller and "her stage of life friendly" environment. Due to her health and physical limitations this move consideration became imminent and much too quickly for Mom.



About a month ago we began pulling things out of the attic, going through the garage and treasure hunting in the basement which stirred up a whole lot more than just dust. We began to see some real anxiety surfacing. We heard comments like, "you're selling my life away," and "this is my life in those boxes." It made me very sad because while I did understand her reluctance to let go, there was part of me that could not accept that the equation of her life was a bunch of stuff sitting in boxes for who knows how long with a 3 inch layer of dust on top of them.



Please don't get me wrong. I felt compassion, but I wanted to say and maybe I did...this stuff is not your life! Your life is made up of the people who are around you right now...the very people who are irritating you at this very moment!



We will move her this weekend, and she will take with her the dearest things. So many old love letters, photographs and trinkets will be packed up and placed in a storage unit. These things should be preserved, but they are best preserved in the loving people who resulted from her life.



Thinking about all of this has given me reason to pause and ask myself if I am clinging to "stuff" instead of celebrating the dear people I love so much. When I am looking at the last years of my life, it is my hope that the "things" that represent my life will not have to be dusted off to be remembered. They will be with me every moment until my very last moment.