[Magdalen] speaking of downsizing...Stuff it: Millennials nix their parents’ treasures - The Washington Post

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Hoo boy, does ever describe us!  We were crammed with stuff from the first
residence we had after getting married, and we just have all these
wonderful things that have all those family memories attached, and I am
pretty sure nobody will want.

We have all these incredible art works done by my mil who was a master at
all forms of stitching, some done with fold thread, and so on.  The family
dies out with my spouse. I know my nieces and nephews will have no interest
in this stuff.  I shudder to think of what will happen to it when we're
gone, or when we do the drastic down-size.  We have a gorgeous formal
dining table which will probably just go to the highest bidder one day.  A
cabinet where my grandmother remembered sitting at when she was a child,
writing her first letter to her mother for some occasion, her father
standing behind her, gently helping her form the letters and words. When I
was cleaning out my parents' condo, I happened upon a letter written in a
very young hand to someone's mother.  It had maybe two sentences. Nothing
special.  I wondered if that was the letter my grandmother had written.
Her daughter, my mother, had saved it, perhaps.

And there are so many letters and documents my wife has gathered about the
family history.  I hope someone will take them and preserve them.

I guess one has to remember that these things are really not that big a
deal, but it sure doesn't feel that way.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 6:16 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
wrote:

> http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/boomers-unwanted-
> inheritance/2015/03/27/0e75ff6e-45c4-11e4-b437-
> 1a7368204804_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na
>
> I resemble this article as much as my kids do (age appropriate
> resemblances...)
>
> Lynn
>