tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1268746983441346507.post6505867158508967589..comments2024-02-21T02:19:16.755-08:00Comments on Widow's Voice: Seven Widowed Voices Sharing Love, Loss, and Hope : ConsolidatingMichele Neff Hernandezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356589209090780127noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1268746983441346507.post-64356423035570699072015-01-15T05:52:36.383-08:002015-01-15T05:52:36.383-08:00Cathy-
Thank you for the thoughtful response.
I t...Cathy-<br />Thank you for the thoughtful response. <br />I think it is just too soon for me to deal with this, but I need to make some space. Maybe I can work on the items that are less significant to me; a few at a time. I can take photos of these things before I donate them. I couldn’t take care of his vehicles, so I took photos and gave them to his friends who will maintain them. I was sad to do it, but its ok, and I look at the photos sometimes. I don’t have any help either, so it will take as long as it takes. I guess the tools can stay in the tool room for now. As I use them I will figure out what I need and what I don’t need.<br />Good luck to all of you.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1268746983441346507.post-52726279178707795052015-01-13T20:11:51.704-08:002015-01-13T20:11:51.704-08:00Anon, I, too, have a lot of dead peoples things, m...Anon, I, too, have a lot of dead peoples things, my inlaws, my parents, my husbands. I ended up selling my home last fall, and had to part with a lot of it as I downsized. It was brutal, but once I started it got easier. It is just "stuff". Yes, it may have been important to them, but they are no longer here, you are the one that has to deal with it. I had many tools, too, my husband was a builder, and he kept all tools, those that worked and those that didn't. I ended up donating to Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill, who recycled tools that didn't work. I mostly did it all myself, everyone that offered to help always bowed out when the time came to help. So be it. I had a deadline, which made me do it, after 4 years of looking at it all. Your last statement re: a service to remove things is an option, my sister in law did that when her folks died. Got it done, even the stuff in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. It's ok to go that way, do whatever works for you. I wish you luck in this endeavor, I know how hard it is. Lots of triggers going thru stuff. By the way, now that I am moved, I have many boxes and large plastic bins still loaded, all the stuff I saved no longer is important either ! Haven't got it unpacked and probably won't. Trying to simplify so my kids don't have this issue in the future.Cathynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1268746983441346507.post-20509531646438663962015-01-13T17:14:27.928-08:002015-01-13T17:14:27.928-08:00I too live in a small house packed full of dead pe...I too live in a small house packed full of dead people’s things.<br /><br />My husband died unexpectedly last summer. All I have gotten rid of so far are his old work clothes that he didn’t care about much anyway. It was difficult because I remembered buying most of them, and the circumstances. I still have all the rest of his stuff, half done projects, tons of tools that I don’t know how to use, and can’t bear to part with any of it.<br /><br />Shortly before my husband died, he had brought home a lot of his long gone grandparents’ things that his mother didn’t want anymore. His brother died two years ago, so he had brought home a lot of his things. I don’t necessarily want most of this stuff, but his family has no interest in any of it, and it was important to my husband so I can’t just get rid of it. Several years ago my mother died, and I still have a lot of her boxes to go through.<br /><br />I am starting to think that the easiest thing to do is to pick out what I want, move, and have a service remove the rest of the items from the house. Of course I don’t really see myself doing this, either.<br /> <br />If anyone has any ideas on how to deal with all this….<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1268746983441346507.post-23158894642798105292015-01-13T05:12:24.063-08:002015-01-13T05:12:24.063-08:00Hi, I havent given away any of my wifes things (Sh...Hi, I havent given away any of my wifes things (She died 1 and half years ago). My sisters moved them to another room and spared me doing it myself. Also her stuff that was shipped back home is still in the boxes (she was an expatriate killed working abroad). I just cant bare to look at them as when I initially did I would hug her clothes but it wasnt HER! anyway...I guess I shall one day have them sealed so my little daughter may have a connection with her mum if she wants when she grows up.RKnoreply@blogger.com