Found Treasure

From Mom's Kitchen cupboards

I have containers and containers and many more containers filled with "things" from my parents house; maps, pictures, pieces of toys, tons of ephemera for my art along with household items, radios, planters, fabric and so much more.  My mom hung on to everything.  In 2005 Mom had her hip replaced, I came over every day for 2 weeks to look after her while Dad was at work.  I told her I couldn't sit still so I gathered the old clothes from upstairs, we looked at them, we laughed then she said donate, I couldn't believe it, she was letting go!  I was on a roll, we cleaned out clothes, I found and kept a lot of my Dad's old ties, my Grandma's old jewelry, table clothes, pillowcases, aprons and handkerchiefs, and the dress my Mom wore to my wedding.  We recycled tons of magazines and cardboard, took boxes and boxes of VHS tapes to Goodwill and bagged up trash, lots of trash.  I made a dent but the upstairs was filled with many years of  living along with my Grandmothers belongings (her house was filled to the brim when she passed away).  I was exhausted after 2 weeks but would continue to come over for a cleaning out day until Mom became ill the next year, the cleaning was put on hold and my wonderful Mother passed away in 2010.  I cherish the time we spent together reminiscing about childhood things and listening to her stories about my Grandparents and their belongings.  Lucky for my Sister and I our Dad isn't pushing too hard for us to finish cleaning out the upstairs, basement, garage, closets and kitchen cupboards so we're able to cherish the time we've spent finding "treasures" at Mom & Dad's house.  ♥