what does one DO with this stuff?
cleaning up, sort of and I've found these things:
An American flag that draped the coffin of a WWI veteran's coffin (in the 1950s). An older friend gave it to me--the vet was her dad. Now what the heck should I do with it? It's too big to fly, and I don't want to burn it. I don't want to sell it on ebay--although maybe I should. She's in her 80s now and could use the income. Anyone want to buy it?
A bunch of little girl china that I used as a kid. Much of it slightly chipped, not valuable. I can't bring myself to toss this stuff. No one would want it.
Lots of letters from a dead ex-lover. Nothing dreely, nothing Bridges of Madison County, thank God--but the guy wrote great letters. He died young and it's bad enough practically no one else remembers him. Maybe his sisters wants some of them?
Icketty paintings I made. And a couple of better ones from my mother, but there's no room to hang them up. Grey, brown, doom. We were definitely ashcan school (My mother actually studied with Raphael Soyer and was his model.)
My current inclination is to stuff all of this back into the attic crawl space and then toss it wholesale when we move to a smaller space. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll keel over and the kids can deal with it.
An American flag that draped the coffin of a WWI veteran's coffin (in the 1950s). An older friend gave it to me--the vet was her dad. Now what the heck should I do with it? It's too big to fly, and I don't want to burn it. I don't want to sell it on ebay--although maybe I should. She's in her 80s now and could use the income. Anyone want to buy it?
A bunch of little girl china that I used as a kid. Much of it slightly chipped, not valuable. I can't bring myself to toss this stuff. No one would want it.
Lots of letters from a dead ex-lover. Nothing dreely, nothing Bridges of Madison County, thank God--but the guy wrote great letters. He died young and it's bad enough practically no one else remembers him. Maybe his sisters wants some of them?
Icketty paintings I made. And a couple of better ones from my mother, but there's no room to hang them up. Grey, brown, doom. We were definitely ashcan school (My mother actually studied with Raphael Soyer and was his model.)
My current inclination is to stuff all of this back into the attic crawl space and then toss it wholesale when we move to a smaller space. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll keel over and the kids can deal with it.
What an interesting situation. I'd donate the flag to a local veteran's organization, even a VFW hall. Format the letters into book form like a scrapbook and have it bound at Kinko's or some place...then offer them to his sister. Put china and paintings you don't want in a yard sale along with Bosnian socks and divvy the $$ later with them.
ReplyDeleteBut then I'm trying to do the same thing - lol - pare down, only sometimes the past has as strong a pull on me as the present.
Speak with the local veteran's organization -- they might be willing to buy the flag, which means it would go to an appropriate organization and you could help your friend with a bit of extra money.
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