Thursday, April 19, 2018

Q is for QUESTIONS

Q - QUESTIONS

What do I do with the memories?


I come from a family of savers and I am the oldest surviving member.
 I have no living Siblings, Parents or Grandparents.

My family started out in this country in the 1700 looking for religious freedom. They were mostly Mennonites and a few Amish. I have moved a LONG way from this background but still honor and value it. But I still have to face the QUESTION of WHAT to do with the memories. 

My Great Great Great Great Grandparents farmed Flax
and then spun and wove cloth and towels 

One of my Great Great Grandmothers Cover Lids


My Great Great Grandmother then took
 that skill and wove Cover Lids (Bedspreads)






















My Grandmothers were Quilters
 this quilt was made when I was born.

This Quilt was made for my brothers birth.



 Crazy Quilts from 1900 were made to just use up scraps of used clothing and to make warm blankets. They were often considered practice pieces and a place to practice fancy stitch working.






















 Moving to Hawai'i brought all of this to a head as it had all easily been stored for many many years in large Oak chest packed away with all the bay clothes and so much more but now we were leaving and had to face the big QUESTION... in the end I was brutal. I donated any thing that was not of true personal value and identifiable. I kept two wooded chests and allowed what QUILTS and MEMORIES  that could be packed into the biggest wooden chest to be moved to Hawai'i. The rest went to auction. It was hard it was sad. I cried many many tears. Then I added one more memory to my pile.

My first pair of riding boots.

 SOMEDAY MY CHILDREN WILL HAVE TO ASK THE BIG QUESTION!





6 comments:

  1. In our eighties we have no old items from either of our families - we ar just creating things for our children to argue over.

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    1. Our problem is that so far non of our children have little to no interest in family history. Sadly by the time they are old enough to care it may be just photos and memories.

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  2. My wife is the pack rat of the family. She has pictures and souvenirs from her time in Holay on Ice back in the early 1960s; she's kept our daughters' dolls; we have a patent that her grandfather got in France for a radiator hose clamp in the early 1900s. The matriarch of her family was a leader in the WWII Resistance and we have personal letters to her from General Charles de Gaulle. Me?I think there are some elementary school grade cards somewhere.

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    Replies
    1. She had an interesting family history and at least her family mementos are easily kept in small spaces!

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  3. My mom and stepdad are trying to figure out what to do with their memories. They will be building a house soon and are finding that it is hard to find new homes for family heirlooms. I suspect that they, too, will shed many tears before they finish whittling down the heirlooms to what is moving to the smaller new house.

    Emily In Ecuador

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    Replies
    1. It is so very very hard. I still struggle with some of the decisions that were made. Some times I feel I got rid of things that meant to much and other times I KNOW I did not part with enough!

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