Scatter Rather than Gather

 It feels a bit unkind that Ronnie B and I have been taking pictures that my mom wrote on and placed painstakingly into albums out and divvying them up for our kids. Mom always felt a need to write on every picture and place it into albums. She stressed over getting this done. The reason it was such a daunting task was that Mom so many pictures to document our lives. I know dismantling her photo albums is the right thing to do so we can gift each of our kiddos the ones that will mean the most to them. But it still has me quietly asking for mom’s forgiveness. 

Susi says she has albums for each of her kids so they will be able to take them in tact when the time comes. Ron and I put our photos in Rubbermaid bread containers that fit 4x6 pictures perfectly. They are mostly sorted by year and easy to thumb through. When one of our kids comes we encourage them to take any memories with them now. 

As we go through our home ridding out what we no longer need, it is always with the thought of just what our kids and grandkids would want to preserve. There is too much that has been accumulated over almost five decades of marriage for any of them to incorporate into their homes that are already full of their own belongings. Now is the time in our lives to donate more than we keep and beginning yesterday was a good start. It sure makes us miss those who are no longer living and appreciate the times we share with those still here. This started out as a task to clear out our home of our junk that could be someone else’s treasure. It quickly led to us sitting down with photos and memorabilia to reminisce.

Gathering people is the phase of life we are in. Not so much of gathering stuff. My hope is to be quicker with my phone camera to capture a moment than to need a trinket to place on a shelf. Time to scatter what we no longer need and preserve what our kids and grands may want to keep. The truth is that they want very little of what collects dust in our house. That is a truth that we need to keep in mind when we are putting more than less in the donate pile. 

We don’t need Gramma Peabody’s fish tank or tea cups to remember her or our times at her house. But keeping one or two teacups and having a fish tank does remind me of her. Mom’s California Raisin people are fun but my kids passed when I took them to share. So I have been gifting them to friends on their birthdays. After all, as seniors we could be considered raisins with our well earned wrinkles. 

This cleaning out closets used to terrify me since it seemed so overwhelming. But now it feels like a labor of love as well as a hug from the past. Scatter rather than gather is the time of life we are in. So let’s scatter our love and possessions on others and gather new memories along the way. 

In Him,

Joyful

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