Saturday, May 16, 2009

SPRING CLEANING



I woke up yesterday full of energy and decided I would finally get around to my spring cleaning. Had a cuppa and then dove right in to all the boxes of old pictures I have had packed away and stored since I moved back from Florida to Cincinnati in 2006. These boxes were such an eyesore in my bedroom. How does a "pack rat" downsize? That is the question. Not really wanting to part with the photos, but having no room for storage in this tiny apartment, I decided to scan and post many of the old school pictures online and then give my daughter the, "Keeper of the Family photos" position from here on out. Yes, I know, a little sinister on my part, but then again, she is a bigger pack rat than I, and she actually has the room to store them in her great big huge house. I told her kept here, they are clutter, but kept at her place, they are memorabilia. She readily agreed and was at my house within the hour to receive what she perceived as a glorious gift! Yay! So it worked out well for both of us.

I diligently worked for nearly eight or nine hours, carefully scanning and posting many of the memories to my MySpace account while my daughter patiently waited for me to finish. It was a lot of fun going through the time space continuum and when you're my age, there is a lot of time and space to cover, especially when you are a picture fanatic! I've seemed to have lost my organization skills over the years, (menopause) so I gladly handed over the difficult job of organizing the photos to her and I know she will do a fantastic job at it. Many of the photos were already in albums but still many more were in envelopes and shoe boxes, all mixed up, not in any relative order what-so-ever. I am looking forward to seeing how she organizes the timeline.

The photo above is my beautiful mother, modeling (on what I believe to be Vine Street)in Cincinnati, Ohio in the early 1950's. I love her dress, the automobiles, the street lamps. How can one part with photos as beautiful and telling as this? My mother died on May 18th 1985 from liver failure and complications of diabetes. Just two days short of the 24th anniversary of her death I am posting this blog, seems fitting, don't you think? A small tribute to the woman who I loved and who loved me, "Bigger Than The Sky". She still visits me in my dreams and usually we talk, have lunch and go shopping together. The most recent "visit" was on Mother's Day this year. The next morning I awoke with a lovely feeling and a smile on my face.

Although I made huge progress yesterday, I am still left with little bits of memorabilia such as, clippings of newspaper articles, (the first moon landing) death notices of beloved ones, letters and birthday cards from family members from years gone by and little tidbits of other things that I can't seem to discard as refuse. What does a pack rat do with such things? Any ideas?

As for the spring cleaning? Well, maybe I'll possibly get to it today. *laughs*

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