I have been helping an elderly terminally-ill lady clean out her house for a yard sale and move to a smaller place. She has lived in this house, with various pets and family members, for 30 years. Now, I move on average every two years, so it was hard to imagine what I was getting myself into.
But experiences like this one really get you thinking and doing. For example, I came home after the first day and steam cleaned all the carpets and furniture in my house. After the second day I went through my house and filled paper grocery bags with items for Goodwill. Today, day 3, I started sorting through personal papers in my garage and loaded up the car with donations. After I finish writing here, I will go clean out under the beds. I am a little obsessed.
It might be morbid, but I am left thinking: Who will go through all my stuff when I die? What will they find?! And what can I do now to make it easier on them? Because somehow I believe that cleaning through all this crap now is one way I can show my family that I love them when I am no longer here to tell them. I know families who have spent YEARS sorting through their parents' stuff. It is ALWAYS a huge undertaking, unless your loved one happened to be a hobo and lived out of a paper sack!
I also have this theory about cleaning house and weight loss.
And so I continue to de-clutter.
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I've been there and sorted through things at the end of a life, it's a very difficult thing to do. I don't think being organized and thoughtful about what you want to leave behind is morbid, it's an act of kindness.
ReplyDeleteThanks :] I was glad to shred a few papers that I'm glad now no one will ever find! lol
ReplyDeleteYou are giving your family a wonderful gift. Having to go through my mom's, dad's and uncle's stuff after they died was horrible. A time that I'd rather have spent grieving and letting go and healing but instead was spent sorting, cleaning, hauling, selling, etc...not a fun way to remember your loved ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reaffirmation, Lara. Love you sweetie <3
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