h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fact - I have two houses worth of stuff in one house. My summer project is to get rid of a lot of it. I have to be ruthless. The DAV truck will be in my neighborhood tomorrow, so this weekend was scheduled for boxing and bagging as much as possible to set outside for them in the morning.

I made a fair start yesterday then got distracted by old photos, some mine, many the ones in frames that decorated the walls and tables in my mother's house. She had one old 5X7 frame that was in awful condition. It had a photo of my nephew in it, one I didn't have a copy of, so I took the frame apart to remove the photo. Well, Mom had squirreled several other photos behind it. There was one of my sister at about 11 or 12 that was always one of my favorites. Her high school graduation photo was in there. There was one of BC#1 in his Army uniform.

The real prize was a photo of me at age 5 with my little Cherokee grandmother. My folks didn't own a camera when I was small. Photos of me as a child are few and far between. To my knowledge, that was the only photo of the two of us together ever taken. She is seated outside her house in a straight chair, holding the doll I got for Christmas. I am standing beside her holding another present, a stuffed white cat made out of rabbit fur. The history of me and that cat is a whole other story entirely.

All of the photos Mom had relegated to filler status are now in decent frames where I can enjoy them. The house is still a mess, but I have today to continue the boxing and bagging. Time will tell what today's distraction turns out to be.

Well done, so glad there are compensations, and maybe things too look forward to in the clearing. Mine is mundane with nothing interesting to uncover, just boring stuff

Websailor

I have been similarly busy. I reorganized our storage room so it actually makes sense, not sure where I got that idea from.

We now have 10 bags of various items to be picked up tomorrow by one of the various charities that periodically send out announcements.

It must be quite something finding unknown or mislaid photos of yourself or close relatives from way back when

I have gotten about a third of the way through my declutter. I had hoped to be farther along, but at least I am getting a bit done every day.

Finding the photos was definitely a mood-lifter. More so than I would have expected. I am not terribly sentimental generally, but finding the photos of my sister meant a lot to me. And then a couple of days ago I found a photo of myself at age 2 at my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party.