We gave a 30-day notice at Nana's former home on the week that she left, in order to move out her "stuff" without her well-meaning assistance... Luckily, my sister Mary was able to come out and help with the task.
I thought I was up for this adventure. How tough could it be to pack up a two bedroom apartment and a large storage area? No problem... Ha! We arrived with boxes, tape, paper, markers, and a camera. We wanted to document everything so that our siblings could choose amongst the "booty" left behind. Our plan? Pack up everything, then put it in storage for 1 year so everyone could come retrieve whatever they wished to take.
I stepped into the kitchen and looked around, trying to decide where to start. I didn't move, or start. Thankfully, Mary brought me out of my stress-induced inertia-- "C'mon Nancy-- why don't we start by making separate boxes for each family, a "give-away" pile, and start measuring all the furniture and pictures?" We were on our way.
I started in the back bedroom. Mary started in the living room. We both rooted through drawers, finding many items in very strange places. We found six sets of keys to Nana's apartment-- as suspected, no one had been "stealing" her keys, except for her Alzheimer's doppelganger-- who was hiding them in random drawers, purses or pairs of socks. We found 17 packages of maxipads, an obsession Nana had for a few months last year. Random tissues, new and used, were stuffed everywhere. But most of all, Mary and I found memories.
"Look-- I found drawings that Rachael and Dominic made!"
"Ha-- look at these pictures. John with hair!"
"Oh, this plate always makes me think of ________"
We were amused by how different our memories were at times. Though we are only 4 years apart, Mary's experiences were different-- things that I picked up sometimes held less interest to her. She shared stories with me that I had no memories about.
The pictures and letters we found said so much about our parents and our families. Mom saved all of our letters that we sent during college-- we were tempted to stop and read them all, but we behaved ourselves and threw the letters into each child's box. We saved another two boxes of interesting family history to share with the grandchildren this summer. The many pictures and writings illustrated what was most important to our parents-- our family, their love for each other, and the strength they found from their Catholic faith.
We also found many notes that Mom started writing as she realized that she was losing her memory. Sadly, almost every attempt started with "I'm having trouble remembering things, so I think I should probably write down my memories now." Unfortunately, none of these notes were finished.
On Tuesday, we will move Nana's belongings to a storage facility, and Southgate will be but a memory for me. I will miss the many lunches I shared with the ladies of Southgate. I will miss listening to their stories. I will miss Mass at the chapel, said with such reverence by the retired priests who reside there. And I will be forever grateful for the love the residents and caregivers shared with our Mom.
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