Today, I carted some boxes from my Grandma's to Lesbian Central so I can scan the photos and organize the lot of materials. She's fine, but I want to try and get her to identify some of the people in the snapshots before it is too late. Ledcat and I spent the afternoon cleaning our her closets as she has kept every single item of clothing she's owned for the past 8 years, even as she's gone from a 14 to an 8. We hauled off at least 15 bags of clothing and her closets are still filled almost to capacity. I also found her wool coat with the real mink collar. My mother suggested I give it to Goodwill. Ledcat thought perhaps a consignment shop. I put it back in the closet for now, but plan to donate it to Coats for Cubs along with the fur hat.
On the one hand, it seems a little ghoulish to be doing this in advance of her non-impending death. But on the other, she gets a say in the disposal of her things and she has opinions, believe me.
What excites me is the photos and other memories. I just poured through two boxes.I found more than I could imagine. My grandmother's high school diploma and yearbooks, as well as programs from her 1924 ballet recitals. My father's birth certificate and a full array of school pictures, including his prom picture (ooohhhh). Pictures of my aunt as a young girl. Newspaper clippings and class photos. A letter I wrote in 1982 asking her to come to my school play.
I'm a very amateur geneaologist so this is all fascinating to me and I will dutifully enter it all into the family tree. I've been sneezing for an hour so I need to put everything away.
I wonder if there are any lesbians or gay men I might shake out of the tree?
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