When I was a young whipper-snapper I had a strong desire to acquire things. Now I realize that I need to decide what to do with everything I’ve accumulated. I have way too much stuff. It’s time to clear things out. I know from sorting through my Dad’s apartment after he passed away, that someday someone is going to need to make a decision about what to do with all of my stuff. I don’t want to put that burden on a friend or family member. My sister did an incredible job of letting go of things when she moved. I want to follow in her footsteps. As a result of getting my floors refinished I will need to temporarily move everything out of my house and into my garage. This is a good opportunity to see what I really value and want to keep and what I need to pass on to someone else. The hardest part of deciding what to get rid of is that there are some things that I think are “valuable” because they represent memories of the people in my life that are no longer here. Unfortunately they may not seem valuable to anyone else. My nieces and nephew may not want some of the stuff that I consider “priceless,” particularly if they don’t have any idea of what it is or where it came from. These are some of the things I see as treasures even though other people may not think of them that way. I hope SOMEONE will want them: 1. THE COCONUT: It looks like a throw away but it is from WWII. Like many of his fellow soldiers, my Dad put a mailing sticker on a coconut and sent it home from Hawaii. He actually sent several of them to various family members but the one he sent to my Mom was the only one that wasn’t cracked open. At one time it had a sticker of a Hula dancer plastered on the side, but that is long gone. This coconut was passed from my parents to each of my 2 sisters and finally to me. It now resides on a bookshelf in a corner of my house. I hope it can find a new home and continue to inspire the imaginations of other generations. 3. GRANDPA’S HOMEMADE CRIBBAGE BOARD: My Dad's father was not a great craftsman but he decided to start woodcarving in his 70’s. I have a few of his carvings and this funky cribbage board which he evidently made without a square or a ruler because there is absolutely nothing straight in this cribbage board. Grandpa carved each little peg and made a storage space for them on one of the short ends. Cribbage was big in my family. Grandma and Grandpa played cards all the time and taught my Dad how to play cribbage when he was just a kid. My parents started a cribbage club at the local senior center. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who plays cribbage but I hope someone will treasure this and maybe even learn how to play the game. 4. 1950’s CHRISTMAS TREE BALLS: I SO remember hanging these on our tree. They look a lot like the glass balls in today’s stores, but they have stripes and hand painted decorations. My favorite has a pink flower painted on the side. My Mom told us that my sisters and I broke a lot of them when we were toddlers. We had a hard time carrying them all the way to the tree clutched in our little hands. A few of them survived and made it past our childhoods. I still put them on my tree along with hand crocheted snowflakes made by my grandma and other handmade decorations made by my Mom and Dad. 5. MOM’S "LOUIS THE XV" CHAIR: My Mom bought this chair and a matching sofa when she was just out of high school and working as a nanny in the home of a wealthy family. Their neighbors got new furniture and my Mom watched the old furniture being taken away and bought them used. It was made in the 1920's by Karpen, a furniture company in Chicago, and it has a solid walnut frame. Her father reupholstered the seats and her parents had them in their home. After my parents married they inherited the set and my Dad reupholstered them in a patterned tapestry. My older sister took them when she got married and reupholstered them in 1970’s gold velvet. My twin sister got them next and had them in her home. Finally I got the chair, which sat in my garage for a while until I was able to have it reupholstered it in a swirly modern print. This chair has seen many reincarnations and has been in the homes of my family for three generations. I know it’s not a style modern families can relate to but I hope one of my nieces or nephew fall in love with it so that it can serve our family a while longer. I have decided to put together a binder with pictures and stories about some of the wonderful stuff I have collected over the years. I hope that it will help preserve the memories of these family “heirlooms” and assure that they will find a good home after I am gone.
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Leslie Masona woman in search of her post-retirement future Guess what! By subscribing, you get notices about the latest Little Old Lady with Cats posts sent to your mailbox!
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(from an entry posted on 5/1/2015) “I definitely fit some of the characteristics of a little old lady with cats: Retired - check, Single - check, Like to knit - check, Have cats - check. . .I do not want to get stuck in my Little Old Lady persona, however. In fact, this blog is a risk taking experiment in exploring and redefining what I want my retired life to look like.” Categories
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