Earlier this month, we got several inches of much needed rain after a very dry summer. Thankful as I am for that rain, it brought a whole new set of challenges to a yard that isn't landscaped & the top layer here is sticky mud that I call "goose poop"! We haven't done any landscaping or sidewalks or a driveway yet. Oh, I do have a sidewalk, actually a boardwalk made of pallets! It works. With the mud sticking to our shoes, it gets into the vehicles & into the house so I bought some more mats to absorb the mud which turns to dust & then seems to spread all over the house. I know this is all part of the building process, however one that I don't cope with very well. Today we got another load of gravel delivered & then spread around by a bobcat. It's all part of the process.
Also in October, my 3 sisters & myself moved our 96 year old mother into a Personal Care Home & then we got together several times to clean out her apartment. This whole process has been difficult for all of us especially my mom. Cleaning up mom's apartment & deciding what to do with her things was a long & tedious process. How & what you you do with various items that represent someone's whole life? Old pictures that none of us girls recognized anyone, boxes & boxes of fabric that mom had good intentions of sewing into blankets for MCC, congratulation cards from mom's 80th, 85th, 90th & 95th birthdays, wedding invitations, funeral cards, momentoes from church & family events, pages & pages of hand written daily events in mom's life and more & more. We wanted to keep as much as we could for family members to share & also keeping in mind that mom may enjoy some things in her room in the PHC which is quite small & not too much room to store things. Some things were divided between us 4 girls, some items given to a needy family, & some boxes went to MCC.
The above picture is of us 4 sisters emotionally exhausted after a day of cleaning out Mom's place. It has all been a learning experience. Most of these lessons aren't new, I've been down this road before but needed a review! Learning that through my moving & downsizing experience that I'm more attached to some material things than I thought I was, learning that family relationships are more important than things, learning that I need to be sensitive & mourn with my mom the loss of her home & most of her possessions. Learning that it is important to daily fix my eyes on things Above, not on material possessions. And knowing that each day I'm given is a new day, a gift.
Also during this month I heard of two families whose lives are being turned upside down due to cancer and hearing how this is life changing for all involved, makes me realize that my "problems" are only a small bump in my road of life. I pray for these families as they come into my thoughts.
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