After John and I moved into our new apartment in Highlands Ranch, it was time to start going through mom's (Chantelle) personal items. You know, you can learn a lot about a parent when going through their belongings. So far, in the last four months I have learned that my mom loved patterns, cookbooks, craft ideas, tupperware and horse racing. She loved the color dusty rose, mauve, and light blue. She did have her quarks; she collected jars and vases of many different shapes and sizes. I found hundreds of recipes, used constantly, experimented with, and just plain collected. She was always on the lookout for the perfect older fella. I found where she had created a description of herself for online dating; how cute. She considered herself fun-loving, loved to dance, cook, travel, and being romanced.
At the end of July, I flew my sister, Jana, down to help me go through more of mom's things. I got to the point of being overwhelmed by mom's belongings. My stuff was bad enough, but it is real hard to go through a parent's stuff, especially when they are not physically on this earth anymore. I felt like I was invading on mom's privacy. She hated people going through her things, especially her purse. Although it was in the high 90's the entire week, Jana was able to help tremendously. We noticed that quite a few items were crushed, bent, or destroyed by previous moves, weather, or use. What items I thought could be sold on ebay, proved otherwise and went to Goodwill instead. It is sad when a parent keeps items for over 30 years, but that's a mom for you. After visiting with my mom's mother back in March, I can see where she inherited the hoarding habit. I promised myself not to do this in my future. Nobody wants your old crap. Jana and I found old photographs and tons of pictures of mom's future ideas, wants, desires, and "someday" ideals.
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