I’m helping my mom sort, pack and decide on all her belongings as she prepares to leave the house she’s lived in for over 45 years and the house I grew up in. 

This week is causing me to reflect more than when we were sorting through items when my dad passed. Probably because I knew then that the house was still part of my history. Part of my life. But now...well, it’s being turned over to someone new. 

I think the hardest part of this process is that I want to keep all the things that we really have to get rid of. Like just transfer the memories from moms house to my house. Which is insane because there’s a lot of stuff! 

The funny thing about memories though is that we actually remember them in a better frame of light than they actually occurred. Our brain has the power to shift memories, to parcel out certain parts of memories that we want to keep and forget the other parts. Forget the despair the pain the hurt. Keep the happy laughing and excitement. And there is nothing wrong with that! Our brain is actually protecting us. Is that to say though that we should always forget the painful moments? Nah. Because those moments help DE-fine us and RE-fine us into who we are today. 

It’s hard to not get distracted by the reminiscing of things. Or burdened by choices to be made. Or overwhelmed by the memories flooding back. So I choose to allow those things to be happening. Allow myself to absorb it and wash through me. Because in the end, I’m creating a new memory. A memory of working with my mom, walking down memory lane together and occasionally hearing a new story about the family. I’ll take that any day over stuff. 💕