Greetings all,
While imagining your parents passing away is absolutely horrible, my parents have been preparing our lives without them & carving up the inheritance for a long time - dividing up their treasured belongings & precious pieces collected from around the world. My parents have decided to stay in the country (where they moved 10 months ago to see how a tree change with my doctor brother, might make growing elderly more dignified . . . it has!!) loving life in a small cottage & left the stress of maintaining a huge Sydney home behind them. However, huge home is filled with over 50 years of their life together, ditto our childhoods, it needs to be emptied & ready for sale by the new year. I know some things i want (without debate with siblings) like my father's world globe, maps, paintings . . . & i'd like the 1960's cocktail paraphernalia. My paternal family used to breed, train & race horses 100 years ago (thus Uncle Rupert being in the Light Horse at Gallipoli with his own horse) i can imagine the photos in 'the den' of our future homestead (my husband cannot) so there are potential battles on a few fronts - bargaining with my siblings on what i can have, then with my husband - on what i can keep!!
My parents don't consider this morbid, more a fact of life & they'd like to know where things are going, to enjoy them now & we can ask any questions about the history while they're alive.
We dashed to Sydney on Sunday for a family event & our children played on Uncle Ernie's typewriter for the first time. I guess he's Great Great Uncle Ernie to them.
My husband has a very different take on material things, he'd like to take cuttings of plants from our childhood gardens - so the roses planted by my English Grandfather live on at our future home. I'd love to grow the same mulberry, mandarin, lemon, apple & orange trees too.
Is there anything your parents have given you early, promised, or you have your eye on?? My favourite piece from my parents home will be the painting of the grand English estate where my gardener Grandfather met my maid Grandmother. Very Downton Abbey folks. Love Posie
