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?