Mining My Mom's Life

Good morning! The days are getting longer! Daylight Savings Time is coming soon! I hear the birds singing more often. We are getting there!

I have made three trips to my Mom’s condo now, with different things to accomplish each time. But now, as I think about the overall effect of going there, I am realizing that the process of going through cupboards, looking through bookshelves, and examining the photos and art on the walls, is beginning to give me the overall story of her life and what was most important to her.

There are excellent quality gardening tools sitting right by the door to the patio, in readiness for pruning a bush or edging the garden so it will look its best. There is artwork done by the great grandchildren posted on her fridge, as well as some funny cartoons. There is good china and silverware at the ready. There is a cupboard full of wrapping paper and bags. There is a whole cupboard devoted to, and filled with, art supplies. There are about 100 recipe books and maybe 150 art books, as well as many, many pieces of art throughout the whole condo- maybe 50? I didn’t stop to count them all. Gardening, family, entertaining, giving gifts, reading, cooking, making art… these are some of the most important pieces of her life that have emerged.

As I contemplate what’s been important to Mom, I find myself contemplating what is most important to me. What will my children see was most important when they are in the position of going through my things one day? Is there anything I want to change about the order of importance various things have in my life? What do I want to clear away now? What do I want to add? What little messages do I want to leave my children- such as greeting cards I kept and valued from them.

The time of intense grief seems to have passed, followed by a time now of asking myself what really mattered to Mom and why, and what really matters to me, and why. I am so glad this contemplation is happening as spring approaches, because it’s a time of new beginnings in my life as well as in the natural world around me.

Sending a hug to each of you!

Love, Sue