Six years ago this weekend my grandpa passed. Recently my grandma moved into an assisted living facility. My mom and aunt have been hard at work clearing and cleaning out her condo, prepping it to sell it. Today the nine grandchildren were invited to come over and choose the things we would like from the house before it and its stuff is sold.
Being the uber-type A personalities that my aunt and mom are, things were very systematic. First, there was a two hour preview before the estate sale, if you will, began. We were told what was available and what wasn't and then we compiled our lists. From there, we all drew cards and they were ordered ace high and down from there. My sister and I, being the youngest, were given the two lowest cards. So much for random. :)
The "sale" started with a flurry and for a minute I thought I was way in over my head. I had a very small list of very detailed things and my cousins were going much bigger than that. Dave and I looked at each other, completely overwhelmed. Luckily for me, though, my first pick I had hidden. My first pick: several strands of my grandmother's pearls. They're beautiful.
For what seemed like hours we picked apart the house looking for treasures and sentimentalities. Personally, I took home great things. Sure, I picked up practical things: wrench, miniature crock pot, pitchers, but I also picked through boxes and found beautiful gems. I brought home a huge box of lace. Yes lace. I also got hundreds and hundreds of buttons. I found my grandmother's old handkerchiefs. I even gave one that had amazing blue embroidery in it to my sister use as her "something blue" for her upcoming wedding. I took home a watercolor picture my mom did of my grandparents' house they lived in for over 50 years. And one of my favorite finds: a pair of lace gloves. I wish I had had these when I got married. I would have designed my whole wedding around them. Now I must find an outfit to model them around.
I thought today would be rough. How weird it is to be sifting through someone's life when they're still alive. But, I'm excited to visit with my grandmother this week and let her know how lucky I am to have her in my life.
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4 comments:
I'm so glad you were able to get some precious things to remind you of what a wonderful woman your grandmother must be. I'm sure this makes her so happy.
So nice you could get some things from your grandma. I too ended up with a LOT of lace when my grandparents passed. I have it in a couple bins in a closet and have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Let me know if you have any ideas.
That's so hard to do... we did that with my grandmother when they moved her to assisted living. But the things we found and were able to keep are constant reminders of the amazing woman that she was!
So true...very lucky that you'll get to be able to see your grandma this week and share the things you have at your home now. So glad you found some things that were/are special to you!
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