Know what you are going through K. I have just put parent's house on market after a 2month clear out and spruce up. I haven't been posting much lately because of this and also haven't posted properly to say that my Dad (some of you may remember the alcoholic/abusive one) died suddenly in the house at the start of the summer.
Mum is very much deteriorated and moving from her lovely supported living into a nursing home so she doesn't know. So it's all been very complicated and I haven't felt like posting but I do read them and I always keep an eye on your story as, like mine, I know your Mum is very dependant on you.
But Yep I know all about 40 years of hoarding. We got 2 skip loads, many runs to charity shop plus one collection. Might try that freecycle thing for the last few items in garage.
The hardest thing to know what to do with was the hoards of holy pictures and ornaments-anyone else had that? The ones in good condition went to the St Vinncent de Paul shop but most were badly damaged and chipped including 2 hip height statues of Mary and Joseph that had been in her family for years. Well I must confess I'm not religious at all and no-one in the family wanted them... can anyone guess where Mary and Joseph went?
Sorry Norza what I actually did with them seems to have got lost in the middle of my post-Mary and Joseph were gently laid to rest in the skip wrapped up in a nice warm thick coat.
So there we are - all done and dusted!
It was nowhere near as bad as I thought (hence the title of this post, I guess...) and actually now I'm back at home I feel quite uplifted, which is not what I expected at all! Physically I am knackered (not as young as I used to be ) but mentally I feel great.
I found some amazing things - some favourite childhood stuff ... a little brown jug which I remember filled with custard for pudding after dinner ... a 'whimsy' (remember those?) figurine of a tortoise which I always loved ... a beautiful abalone shell which dad got in Cornwall... it was a real trip down memory lane - but not painful. It was actually lovely to reminisce and I enjoyed relaying stories of my mum and dad to my friends sons who'd come to help out.
I found my dads apprenticeship contract (he only ever had one job his whole life until he retired) and an award he won in 1936 (he would've been 9!) for his handwriting, plus 4 exercise books filled with the most beautiful copperplate script.
And the jewel in the crown (for me) was the photo collection, including mum and dads wedding album, my dads army album from his National Service in Egypt .. and this. I believe this is my great-grandmother.