Hello Friend,
Recently I started the challenging task of sorting through the belongings of family members who have now passed away, and I made some enlightening discoveries. The most moving was a simple manila folder amongst our mom’s office paraphernalia. A young widow, our mom managed to raise two kids through our formative years on a very tight budget. And yet this folder contained receipts from monthly donations she made to local, national, and international charities and organizations whose causes were close to her heart. I remember vividly her concern for human rights and the less fortunate, but I had no idea how financially committed she was to her values, regardless of her financial circumstances. Clearly, she practiced what she preached.
The items in our homes—even the seemingly trivial—can be both poignant and illuminating. They can reveal unknown stories or highlight overlooked qualities, offering insight into an individual or entire family. More than an act of sentimentality, holding onto a piece of family history can be an act of storytelling and the means of sharing the values of one generation with the next.
In addition to receipts, our home holds one great-grandmother’s piano (I can still picture her playing when I hear a particular Chopin piece), another great-grandmother’s treadle sewing machine, and works of art from various relatives.
Our clients’ homes have told unique stories as well. A number of years ago, an older gentleman pointed to a Jenny Lind bed, among the items we were moving for him, and said, “They tell me my mother gave birth to me in this bed.” Another client showed me a rare old melodeon that had come across the continent in a covered wagon.
The items we keep are the items we treasure. They tell the stories we cherish or portray the person as we remember them, whether it’s that vintage pickup with the tailgate Grandma used to ride on when she was a kid, that Leeds United scoreboard (pictured above), or a homemade knitted sweater. In keeping these items, we reveal as much about ourselves as we do about the family members we’re remembering.
