The "Memories" Thing...

OK first of all, let me just tell you here and now, I know everyone is very busy and trying to find time to create memories is hard to do. I'm one of the worst offenders so no need to explain to me why you just can't do it. I know when you get off of work at 5:00 pm, and you cook dinner, clean up the mess, etc. well there isn't much time left. And forget about the energy it takes to plan something....And Lord knows when your house is a mess people talk so you have to take time to clean. And with us building a house on top of all that, I'm flat out worn out, and my house IS a mess! I haven't done near the stuff I used to do and I miss it terribly.
But.....
In my last post I said I'd explain why creating memories has been on my mind lately. Remember this couple that got married, I think in May?

Well he told us a couple of weeks ago he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We wondered what was going on, because they had an auction of all of the contents in his house. We've known this man since we moved into our home 17 1/2 years ago. He was one of the first people we met, and he introduced himself as our Mayor! He is the Mayor of our neighborhood. He goes around and introduces himself to everyone when they move in, and we ask him important questions that one would ask a Mayor of a neighborhood. Like, where has "so and so" been for the last three weeks, and who is living over there with "X", and what's going on with those peeps in the yellow house?
And he has a heart of gold. He is the one that found Dixie in the park and gave him to me. Even the boys I watched know this man.
He used to take our airedale (who has since passed) bye -bye in his truck. When Abby would hear him she would go crazy barking until he'd get her. She would go to Phil's house, get a treat, and come right back to our house. He is just a wonderful person.

I went to his auction for a little while, but it made me sad. Sometimes I miss the "good old days" so much my heart just aches.

And the day before his auction...on Friday....I spent most of the day finishing up with my Mother-in-Law's condo. I turned over the key to the new owners that same day! I am glad to be finished with it. It's been a lot of work.

Mom and Dad helped me get all of the stuff out of the attic a couple of weeks ago.

(of course, this pic is before I swept the garage)

And my cousin Vickie helped me a week ago. We loaded up a bunch of stuff that we couldn't throw out. Old slides taken on vacations and boxes of pictures. We had started out in the kitchen, but I called an auction house and they came over and said they'd box it up and take it.

They did.

This whole process has taken about three or four months. A little at a time, because my MIL wants to go through every single thing. And why wouldn't she...it's her stuff. But she is 89, in a wheel chair, and has to take a bus from her Assisted Living place to get to her condo. The bus is almost always late picking her up. Sometimes as much as an hour. She wears out after a couple of hours. So it's been a long haul. (this would be a good business for someone to start-btw-for people who don't have family to help them go through their stuff)

The hardest part cleaning out her condo was the time it took. There we go, with the time thing again. It wasn't the memories for me because I really don't have many memories in her condo. She usually came to our house.

But this peeps....this is what made me think......

About the same time I found out about my neighbor, I found this box in the attic stuff. It was my Shug's Father's wallet.

My Shug's Dad passed away in 1978. In his wallet was my Shug's senior picture, insurance cards, a calendar, a page out of a magazine to order a carpentry book, and a note written by him, on what dates to change his vacation from and to so he could take off of work.

A vacation he never took.

He went to work that day in 1978. He passed out at work, and they took him to the hospital. The hospital did a bunch of tests. He woke up during one night with indigestion so the nurse gave him some 7-up. He felt better, fell asleep, and never woke up. He died during the night of a massive heart attack. He had no idea that this day that he went to work would be his last.

Memories peeps.....that's all there is....really.

Cindy Bee