Possessions and memories

The past few weeks my husband, brother in law and I have been clearing. By that I mean, everything that was in pa's home at the time of his dying, has been handled by us. Looked at, talked about, unleashed memories or started the discussion - what do we do with..? In good harmony I may add.

In our lounge at home, on the coffee table on a platter are; two wedding rings, an engagement announcement and the Cake wedding dolls, two pairs of baby shoes, two birth announcements. Treasures from days gone by. Events that told the important events of pa's life. We have a multitude of albums with photos and two whole boxes of loose photos that never made it into the album pages. I claimed a small, heavy frypan. Not only because pa fried many an egg or piece of meat in it but also because of it's manageble size. We won't use 95% of the household and personal items 'from home' as we are fully stocked ourselves.

Today was a BIG day! I felt a lump in my throat and a sadness creeping in on me. All the 'smalls' in the home, cutlery, crockery, glassware, linnen, bedding, pots and pans, microwave and even scales and 3 umbrellas left the building.They will be used by others- people starting their lives afresh. Which in itself is rather beautiful as we are sure pa would have approved of this instead of it going to waste.

A house becomes a home, in my opinion anyway, when the kitchen is equipt to feed those taking up residence in the home. A cuppa, a sandwich, two fried eggs on toast, a warm stew, the Sunday roast. The kitchen is often referred to the 'heart' of the home. Last Tuesday I cooked our last meal 'at home'. We enjoyed sitting round the table, a glass of wine, music in the background. Very conscious of this ritual being our last there.

As of today home has become a house we have to empty of its contents. The new tenants have already been appointed and we have been notified. In 2 months time this house will once again become a home for a young family with two children - just like it did 52 years ago. 

Life goes on and rightly so! But..... there is a hurt that still has a sharp edge to it.