Historical moments in time...or hysterical?

As most of you know, my Mum died a month ago.  It's been a roller coaster ride for me since the day she died, and I know I'll never forget that day.

Since her death, I've had to fly out to South Africa to go through her stuff, and I had to dispose of some items and keep others.

The easiest way to do this is to have 4 boxes open, then label them :

Keep

Charity

Auction

Throw away

Easy. You have to be ruthless in some cases, but you have to be sensible too.  Are you going to use the item, or are you hanging onto it for more sentimental reasons. Can it be displayed for you to enjoy, or will it go into the loft for some poor child of yours to sort out when you are gone?

Be sensible.

Yes, I was a little more sentimental than I needed to be, but to tell you the truth, I didn't have enough time to go through every thing, so I have shipped a few boxes over to look at, at my own leisure.

Some of the stuff I chose to auction there, and some I am shipping here to auction here. Some items will do better here as they are British.

I gave a lot to charity. I think that people need to give to Charity if they can now and then.  Help someone else, and life will be a better place for you in the long run.  Trust me. It doesn't have to be hard, just stuff you don't need, and know a charity might benefit from.It doesn't even have to be money!  A few old clothes, and recycle your printer cartridges too.  Costs me nothing. Helps them lots.

 

I spent 2 weeks going through boxes, suitcases, boxes within boxes within boxes etc, you get the picture.

My Gran kept just about every letter ever written to her - there were a LOT!

Some of those letters are great to read. It fills in a few family holes. I learnt a little bit more as I went through the boxes, but I'll learn more when the boxes arrive and I can go through them.

We did do one other thing.

I did take the kids to see a few animals.  It was a 23 hour trip, but worth it for them to see these animals live in a semi-wild area, and not in a zoo.

Other than that, it was exhausting, and I'm glad I am home and can try unravel my brain and get some normality going.  I must admit that took a while after my Dad died last year, so I'm not expecting miracles, just a little bit of 'normal' would be good.

See ya on the flip side!