There is a lot of work to be done when someone dies. When Grandpa died, my Dad spent three days with my Grandma sorting through paperwork, pension plans, social security, veterans benefits, life insurance, the list goes on. Now that Grandma is back in the condo with us, the work continues and I've spent several mornings with her making and returning phone calls, trying to figure out how much the ambulance people REALLY want us to pay them, and figuring out what she's entitled to now that Grandpa is gone. It's exhausting for Grandma and sometimes she just looks so tired.
Then there's the stuff. Jewelry boxes of cufflinks, wallets, watches and other treasures that were my Grandpa's. Clothes, papers, business papers, genealogy, mementos, and other things of value and not. Grandma is cleaning out her huge storage closet which is full of this stuff and not only weeding out but passing on things to children and grandchildren and sorting and deciding what she really wants to keep. This is the other reason she looks tired. :)
She gave me an old velvet jewelry box that her grandmother, Elizabeth Favargue gave to her. I think it came across the ocean and has been passed down through generations of Elizabeth's. She showed it to me years ago and I've always looked forward to receiving it and it's bits of papers inside of it that many Elizabeth's have owned. Along with it are three china plates that were owned by my great great grandmother as well. Grandma showed me her apron collection. She has Swiss aprons, aprons hand-smocked by her own mother, linen antique aprons, etc. Today, we went through her table cloths. My Grandma LOVES linen. It was an amazing collection!
She has linen tablecloths that were hand cut and embroidered by her mother and other aunts. She has tablecloths that were her wedding presents. She has a tablecloth from Belgium where Grandpa went on his mission that her sister in law used while her husband was stake president so President Kimball has eaten off this tablecloth! It was amazing! We went through and labeled them all and described them all and it was just cool. My Grandma is creating a wonderful heritage for her family. And in the process, I think she's helping me with my nesting! :)
1 comment:
We lived with my FIL up until the time that he passed away. I COMPLETELY understand what you are going through. We have had to do all of the sorting ourselves. We still run into something every once in awhile and he has been gone almost a year and a half now.
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