They say that moving house and a death are two of life’s big stressors and I have experienced both this year.
In January my Mum decided to move house leaving our family home of 50 years to move into an apartment. My Dad is in long term care and the house was getting to be too much for her. It was all her decision and thankfully she had cleared out the clutter years ago it was just a matter of downsizing. I say just a matter of downsizing but it was a big job. She donated a lot to charity, family, friends and friends of friends. She was happy just to know things she loved had gone to a home that would love them too.
The work to be done before the house was sold stressed my Mum out as people had to come into the house and move her things for the staging. As soon as the house was sold everything was moved back. I was with her every step of the way. The house went on the market just in time for the Victoria Day weekend in May and was sold before the weekend ended.
She moved out almost 50 years to the day after we had moved into the house. She found a lovely apartment in an area of town she liked so that was half the battle. On the day of moving my brother took over organizing the move and I did the clearing and cleaning after everyone had left. My nephew stayed to help me for a while but work beckoned. I also had the job of doing the final walk through and making sure everything was clean the day before the closing. I always get these jobs and I don’t know why.
Shortly before my Mum moved my Aunt passed away. This was rather sudden but she had been ill for a while. She was my Dad’s sister. My Aunt had no family of her own so the five nieces and nephews took care of everything. We organized the Celebration of Life and started clearing out her home which it turns out was a huge job.
Now when someone moves and someone dies what does the genealogist end up with? A dining table full of photo albums, boxes of photos and various family papers and ephemera. There are four boxes of slides that will have to be looked at to discover the secrets they hold. I have been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to start sorting through them. I did a quick sort through of the photographs as some were needed for the Celebration of Life. Gathering all the photos for the montage was a trip down memory lane.
I came across some very interesting family documents and some items that had a family connection but were not directly connected to family. There will be blog posts coming with regards to these lovely treasures.
So this is why the blog has been quiet most of this year. My hope is to start blogging more regularly but please bear with me if it takes a while.
Hope your summer was filled with wonderful genealogical finds!
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