Grandma Mayno's house

A few days ago, I drove the family up to grandma Mayno's house so that we could see if we wanted anything from her estate. Her estate sounds so black and white, so cut and dried. How do you choose one or two things to represent someone's entire life? There are so many things in her house that hold memories of her for me, and I know even more so for The Doctor, her grandson. How do you sort through things, to pick and choose what to take and what to toss?

Grandma kept everything, from old letters with brown and crumbling creases to chipped and dusty teacups no longer usable. For reasons known only to her, she carefully placed these things on shelves or in drawers and gave them a home instead of tossing them in the wastebin. It is both a blessing and a curse. The curse being that someone has to sort through it all and make those difficult decisions now. What to keep and cherish and what to throw into the giant green dumpster that has been backed up to the side door.

The blessing is that we get to spend a little more time with grandma this way; we get to know her a little bit in ways that we hadn't before. I never knew that grandma collected tea cups like I do. I didn't know that she was such an accomplished painter. I didn't know that she loved crafts as much as I do. I have only known this woman for a dozen years, and I always think I know so much about a person, even after a few hours, much less a dozen years.

Going through her things, through her house, her closets, her shelves, and her drawers, made me realize that she was so very much more than I ever knew. I so often am caught up in looking at the world through my own eyes, my own perceptions, that I forget about the person that I am looking at. I don't see them as they are, I see them as I think they are. There is a whole world of differences between those two.

I will admit that it has been fun to find treasures in her house (especially since I am not the one who has had to deal with all the not-quite treasures!). It has also been sad to go through her things and to know that this is the last time I will set foot in this place and have it be Hers. But the thought foremost in my mind is how eager I am to see her again someday. To talk to her about the things I think I now know about her from this last visit. Questions I never thought to ask until it was too late.