my mom's attic

my mom keeps everything. not in a hoarding or junk infested way. more like cataloged. and the cataloged categories are endless. but all usable.
*every book that any of us has every read or not read. (i would say thousands.)
*empty frames (hundreds) in case we ever need one.
*pencils. i think we only have 1 in our house. she has a drawer dedicated to them.
*fine stationery.
*crayons. boxes of.
*hangers.
*all fixtures from our childhood rooms (so we can have for our children's rooms if we want..)
*furniture (ok. this category could possibly be considered as a hoarding category.) but nevertheless, no one in my entire family has every had to buy a sofa. other than the one i had made in istanbul, bc/ i couldn't get one of hers over there.
*clothes. this category deserves it's own special blog. i cannot really even begin to explain to you what she has saved. and the condition of the clothes. amazing. every good dress, every good sweater, every good pair of wool pants, every skirt, every PAIR OF PAJAMAS. really, everything but shoes, because we all genetically have stink feet.
back to every. when i say every... i mean every single good piece she ever put us in from the time we were born until pre-teen age. and all of this x 4 children. i really might dedicate a post to the clothes. girls toddler to pre teen are down from the attic right now for my brother and sisters to go through for their children. i am going to snap some pics. i bitched and bitched as a child because i was somewhat embarrased that we had fine clothes. how thankful i should have been. not because our clothes were nice, but because she was teaching us to take care of nice things.

saying all of this to say that.....
sometimes we give mom a hard time about her saving. my dad sometimes really does. and i have to say, in a way, bless his heart. he lives in a house with her and everything that she saves! but more than bless his heart... i would say "deal with it shithead". she has saved none of it for herself... but all for us.
in the past, she has either ignored or rebutted our suggestions for her to let some of it go.
but like everything she does... she does it in her own time, and historically - in the right time.
so in a very lady-like way, a month ago, she quietly and softly started letting some of it go.
it was really a big hurdle for her.
so, my sisters and i did it with her. (or atleast on day 1.)
we spent a morning in her attic. and know that this isn't the attic of our childhood home. this is 2 homes later... and this attic is just as our childhood home attic was for the first 18 years of my life.
i'm starting to ramble. but there are soooooooo many memories attached to all of this.
anyway..
the morning in the attic was nothing less than magical. i can't really explain it. and really, i don't want to. it was just a very special time for us with mom.

the reason i initally started writing tonight was to post about another category not yet mentioned that mom saved for us all.
junior high and high school year books.
in mom and dad's library, there are 2 shelves dedicated to just this. all of mom and dad's, all of bart's, all of shara's, all of mine, and all of susan's.... other than one that has always been missing: her 7th grade year book.
it was for some reason in the attic in a box.
mom dropped it off at susan's house. susan must have taken a quick cruise through it. she called me pretty quickly after mom brought it to her to read me an entry.
to set up the story:
susan was in 7th grade.
matt was in 9th grade...9th grade at that time still at the junior high.
susan "went with" matt's best friend, so susan and matt were friends.
matt "went with" susan's best friend alittle and my best friend alittle.
matt's best friend was my best guy friend.
so, we were somewhat distant friends through girlfriends and sister and best guy friend.
i was in 10th grade... first year at the high school.
you can read matt's entry to susan above in the image. click on it if you want to read it bigger.
i didn't have any reccolection of being in florida with matt.

fast forward 15 years later (now 3 1/2 years ago)....
matt told me the night that we left the world of only being friends and entered the world of admitting that we loved each other, that he had always loved me. i love to remember and think about when he told me that. sometimes, i feel like a little child asking him about it, just like a child would say to their parent... "tell me the story about when i was born".
it was a cold chill, happy tears moment when i read matt's entry in susan's 7th grade year book.
matt is so over me telling the story to everyone... but to me it's like digging up a time capsule about the beginning of us.

still rambling all of that to say this to my mom. i hope she is reading.
thank you mom. thank you for saving all of the categories, such as the year book. thank you for trying to instill that in me. as you know, i fall more on the hoarder side, and don't properly category my saves. i have made major progress over the years, though! one of my solutions and coping for the past several years is to get rid of and have less. that works for me now. sometimes i love living more simply, but other times i regret not saving memories. but, hopefully by the time that i am a mother, i will inately know how to do it just like you did. the way that you did it is just perfect to me.
the next eddmenson house project is to make a slide down ladder for our attic. i hope someday it is full of love like yours.
i love you.
c