None of us can know what is precious to someone unless they tell us. I had an incident a couple of days ago, that illustrated that very well. I had a bit of a health scare – which turned out OK – and I spent the day in hospital having tests. One of the tests was an x-ray. The person doing the x-ray reached out to grab my necklace saying, ‘we’ll need to take that off’ but I got in just before her and said, ‘No! I’ll take it off!’ She probably wondered why I was making a fuss about a necklace.
The necklace in question is a thumbprint necklace, made after my son passed away unexpectedly four years ago. It was the last thing he touched and therefore very precious indeed. I was relaying the incident to my cousin later that day and she said something along the lines of, ‘to be fair, she wouldn’t know what the necklace was and the need to be respectful’. I grudgingly agreed with her. Here is a link about these necklaces if anyone was interested for themselves. https://www.drawelry.co.nz/ads-product-personalised-fingerprint-necklace-teardrop-shaped-cid90-drn0939?ad=1&__currency__=NZD&lang=en&country=NZ&master_attr_dictionary_identifier=platinumplatedsilver&gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9rjcwbivigMV7YNLBR3y4yaVEAQYAiABEgL8PPD_BwE
So, my cousin and I started talking about the incident and the conversation turned to things that we hold as precious. She has a couple of pieces of jewelry from her Mum who passed away recently. Even if she doesn’t wear it, it is precious to her because it was her Mum’s. Again, no-one knows the story behind the jewelry. I have many things that are precious to me. I have paintings painted by my Mum, who I think was a very talented artist. I would like my kids to have them one day and be able to show their children one day. In my china cabinet there are many things with emotional attachment in them and that for some objects, not even my husband might be fully aware of their value to me on an emotional level. There are things that are quite valuable like some blue depression glass that is very rare. They would need to sell that as some pieces can be $40 or more each. Even quite small items.
So, I think I might show my children a few things in my house when they are with me at Christmas. It might be an ideal opportunity to do so.
I was at a Christmas lunch yesterday and somehow the conversation got round to what we leave our children and someone bought up ‘Swedish death cleaning’. Here is a link to that and other methods of decluttering if you are interested https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/house-and-home/declutter-your-home/a61709711/swedish-death-cleaning.
Or, if you’re interested in reading a bit more, there is a book available, https://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Gentle-Art-of-Swedish-Death-Cleaning-Magnusson-Margareta/9781501173240?gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq-HSiryvigMVGaZmAh2TaxraEAAYAyAAEgKYj_D_BwE
It may feel like quite a morbid topic for this blog. But, much as I hate to think about death – and I really hate it – I would hate to think that the things that were really important to me, were just given to an Op shop.
So, I wonder how my children will react if I want to show them a few things at Christmas and request that they be mindful of the value to me and I hope that they would therefore be of value to them.
My journey with Parkinsons 