1-22-10
Friends,

This past week Joan and I travelled back to Pennsylvania to assist her parents (who are both in their mid-eighties) in the final phases of clearing out their home of 53 years and moving into a cottage at a retirement center.  Joan's job was to assist her mom, who still has energy, in any way that she could.  My job was to cram the remnants of the contents of their home into our pickup truck. (See picture where we look like the Beverly Hillbillies with me being Jed Clampet in packing all these belongings into our truck.)Although my task of all the physical labor was tiring, Joan had a much more difficult task in saying goodbye to the home she grew up in.  We're not quite sure how long closure takes if there is such a thing in that process.

On the opposite end of things there's the unloading into our home here in Toledo.  For the past couple of years Joan and I have been absolutely convinced that we need to simplify and get rid of things and here we are bringing a truckload and a half of more stuff into our home.  Most of the "stuff" we brought back has little material value attached to it but it all belonged to her folks and . . .  you know how that goes - there's the emotional and sentimental value attached to things.  Joan and I will work intently on seeing if we can pass on the majority of the stuff to her parent's nine grandchildren so as to continue with our lifelong quest of simplifying.  (I'm not sure that we will find a place for 17 new pillows, 11 new chairs and 25 additional tablecloths.) 

We did get the crummy wooden highchair that her father and her own uncle and her aunt grew up in - she and her three siblings grew up in - each one of the ten grandchildren were fed in and now the great-grandchildren are experiencing the same. (A side note - I do not believe the chair will last to the next-generation in view of the fact that my youngest grandson, Rip, is a basher like his grandfather and will do his best to destroy it before he sits in a regular chair.) 

On a more philosophical note, I very much appreciate the opportunity that I have of constant exposure to the various stages of life - particularly when those stages are experienced in our immediate family.  All the way from new kids being born to aging parents moving into retirement centers - it's all good.

Copyright © 2005 Washington Church.