Saturday, October 21, 2006
Strange Liquidation
I attended the auction of my maternal grandparents' home and possessions this morning.
As I walked past piles of auction items in their yard, it was like a warped version of This Is Your Life. I saw Christmas ornaments from my childhood, dinner plates that served so many holiday and birthday meals, and a 30-year old Monopoly game.
My grandfather was the sole provider as a Methodist minister during an era when ministers were paid very low wages. With their poverty line pay and Depression era childhoods, my grandmother lived her entire life in fear of financial ruin. As a result, she threw away nothing. And I mean nothing.
My family spent several hundred hours cleaning out their house. I actually found bags of yarn with receipts that placed their age at just shy of 50 years. Even so, all the auction items found a new home by mid-afternoon.
Watching strangers pick through my grandparent's possessions was strange and surreal. I'm glad it's over.
As I walked past piles of auction items in their yard, it was like a warped version of This Is Your Life. I saw Christmas ornaments from my childhood, dinner plates that served so many holiday and birthday meals, and a 30-year old Monopoly game.
My grandfather was the sole provider as a Methodist minister during an era when ministers were paid very low wages. With their poverty line pay and Depression era childhoods, my grandmother lived her entire life in fear of financial ruin. As a result, she threw away nothing. And I mean nothing.
My family spent several hundred hours cleaning out their house. I actually found bags of yarn with receipts that placed their age at just shy of 50 years. Even so, all the auction items found a new home by mid-afternoon.
Watching strangers pick through my grandparent's possessions was strange and surreal. I'm glad it's over.
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