Oh you, my handful of followers whom I so greatly appreciate:
I haven't been able to paint because I've been schlepping furniture and boxing
up my mother's life. I have been so fearful that I might be erasing her life by
dealing with her possessions, that now my entire house is filled with boxes of
her chatchkes! (sp?) It's been a slow painstaking process of going through each
box and having her decide which things she will part with. She's pretty ruthless---
she loves only the very worst (in my opinion :-) ). She divested herself of all of her
furniture and a few of her good things: 2 oriental rugs, a few antiques and ancient
silverware (and not to me) at 62 convinced she wouldn't live much longer. At one
point, she had 2 forks in her kitchen drawer so when my daughter and I visited,
I had to resort to a plastic fork. When I moved her from Boston to San Antonio, I
built up a new little empire for her so she would be comfortable and have nice
surroundings. I'm not sure she ever cared, and now I'm the one dealing with all
of it. My mom turned 94 on August 1 so she's way outlived her own prognostication!
I can't stress enough how I long to be in my little hovel of a studio comparing
relative values and smelling paint, mixing colors and whining about my shortcomings!
Soon . . .
6 comments:
I'm so glad to hear from you! I was wondering if you were ok, if you were dispirited, broke your right arm...
You've been engaged in a difficult task. I feel for you.
My mother lived to 97, and packing up her apartment was one of the hardest things I ever did. I wanted to keep every thing because her hands had touched it.
Hope you get time to get back to painting soon!
Thanks for checking in! It is so hard! I seem to assign meaning to each little thing and it's such slow-going because of all the trips down memory lane.
Wow!!! 97!
Happy painting, Virginia!
My sister and I went through the same when our mother died and it seemed to take forever. We cried and laughed - sometimes at the same time! One of our favorite stories when cleaning out her apartment was that we found quarters everywhere. There would be little pouches with quarters, jars filled with quarters, a ktchen drawer with quarters, quarters here and there in pockets and purses. Eventually, we found over $300 worth of quarters! We think she used them for the laundromat and car washes. One of those enduring memories that brings a smile. You'll find more of those, too. Blessings - Linda
Oy Vey!!! That is a very funny (noir, my favorite) entry, you write so well it is a pleasure always to read you. My daughter and I often do an oven check on each other - to make certain no one's head is in it-because, well life is so strange, you never know. Anyway, non legitimus carbarundom.
Blessings on you and your difficult job! We can't wait to have you back in your studio, either!
Hey you guys! I was so touched to see your comments that I started crying but after reading what you wrote, I think my tears are from laughing! "Oven check"---I
almost spewed wine all over my computer screen! And $300 worth of quarters! I'm like that with boxes! Last Sunday I sold a small armoire and the woman had 3 boxes in her SUV. I thought . . . wow, nice boxes . . . though I was cagey and said nothing. The armoire wouldn't fit. The boxes had to go. I got them! Of course, I was in such desperate need for them for more chatzkes! I'm grateful I'm not the only one living a dysfunctional life. One day, my daughter will write about how crazy I was. Until then, thank you all for checking in and making my day end in laughter.
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