Before I begin, know that I sound very materialistic in this post. I can assure you that I am feeling the appropriate guilt and grief over Mom’s recent daughter-assisted suicide. I’m just sick of thinking of it. (Of course, I could stop thinking about it if I stopped listening to music. It’s just like breaking up with a boyfriend in high school: ALL the songs are about you and your boyfriend. Well, now they’re all about Mom.)
I thought we’d picked through all the good stuff before and during the wake. But no. We forgot about the closets. I thought I’d gone through all the closets with Mom and did a big purge after Dad died. She must have ferreted stuff under her bed and then levered it up to the top of the closet without my knowledge.
I have now packed my house so full of Mom’s stuff that Gary needed to mentally empty our bookshelves and buy another set to match, then mentally move the entertainment center downstairs because a new bookshelf means the entertainment center won’t fit, and instead imagine he could buy one of those space-saving wall-hugging wide flat-panel televisions. I don’t know if I’m more outraged that he’s rearranging my furniture or spending my inheritance.
At any rate, check out these valuable prizes:
Dad’s U.S. Army semifore flag set. I had no idea we had this. I don’t know why Dad even had a semifore flag set. He had a desk job during the last two weeks of the Korean war. And of course, now there’s no one to ask.
All my brother’s old Mad magazines and my old Get Smart metal lunch box. Soon to be sold on an e-Bay near you.
Valuable art by known artists.
First artist: my Great-Aunt Rosemary. I’d already snagged most of the china plates and vases she painted, only to get a letter from her today that mentions she’s a known artist. She had an appraiser look through her things and found she was mentioned in his artist database. Evidently she had painted a plate once that was found in an art collector’s collection.
Second artist: my a new post, like this one here.
6 responses to “The Stuff. My God, the Stuff.”
I would love to see what annotations Queen Mum wrote on that awful piece of tripe. I was disgusted by the whole thing, much as I was by “The Horse Whisperer”.
I tried not to take too much of my Mom’s stuff. But the nice stuff I took and gave to my closest friends who would appreciate the item. That made me feel good.
Yeah, besides the old journals, you might want to publish the annotated “Madison County”. Or at least scan a few choice pages!
I love the idea of the Queen Mum blog. What a great tribute to your mother.
Yes indeed, I think a scanner is necessary for Bridges.
Becs – It really was shit.0.5 – Are you trying to get some of Mom’s stuff? Magpie – Okay, I’ll try it.KC – I’m just adding posts to Mom’s old blog. Which, if anyone is curious about post-polio, gives a good blow-by-blow of the beginning of Moms decline.Sarah – But she has so many running jokes … I’d have to reproduce every page.