For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 03, 2021

what a eureka moment for Elly there at the end

Be glad. I have heard horror stories from people spending over a year cleaning out the accumulation of their parents’ lifetime after they died because they did not want to move out of their home. It is slow and I imagine sometime painful.

My mom has spent most of the past year going through her house and getting rid of things she doesn’t need. She said she’s doing it so my sister and I won’t have to. Just makes me sad.

So just last week when Elly wanted her father to move out east to be closer to her, did she think they were going to keep their old house in order to do that?

So does this mean the parents are going to move closer to her?

Better get over there Ellie before they sell off something you REALLY REALLY want!

Ah, yes… the Great Canadian Fire Sale…

I mean it’s what you want isn’t it?

I spent 2017-2018 going through my parent’s house and packing or selling stuff. Turned out to be the best idea ever. The rooms I had cleared got flooded during Harvey, so we did not lose all the pictures, video tapes and special furniture.

I remember when my parents moved from our 5-bedroom house to a tiny 1-bedroom independent living senior apartment. There were so many things I wanted to take with me, but our own tiny apartment didn’t have space. This included my mother’s beloved china teacup collection (most of them from me, anyway). I just picked a few personal favorites. I still have them.

Those pirates are on a roll. Its nice to have Wise elders under the children’s roof though. Mine never were left in a nursing home. We were so blessed to have our grandparents every time we needed them they were there. My brother having to sell their house broke our spirits but we just have to accept the consequences love and devotion deal us. My mom used to always say that its better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Makes us all sad Allisha but that same love has been worth living for in itself.

It seems to be an irresistible urge to collect stuff we might need while we are young and to get rid of stuff we don’t use when we get older. I don’t know when that switch flips, but I have felt it snap.

Went through this when mom sold our house to downsize. It was a great idea but sad too. She got rid of a lot but there is still stuff we will have to go through when the time comes.

Be glad, Elly. The alternative is that they live there until they die, and then you’ve got a massive mess on your hands..

My father never sold. He lived in the house for 18 years after my mom died. When he passed, it fell to me, living in another state, to clear it out (it took over a year) and sell it. And now I look at Google Earth — the buyer bulldozed the lot, and is in the process of building something new. When I saw that… it hurts.

My parents had a house fire. A lot of their stuff burned, but some things survived. Both passed away shortly after. I miss them every day.

It is, but trust me, you’ll thank her later. It’s harder after they’re gone.

Be grateful they are selling the house willingly, and not being forced due to foreclosure.

Well, that’s what you wanted them to do, isn’t it?!

I’ve been trying to get my wife to do this for years. So far no luck. I feel bad for our kids.

Did they have senior living apartment complexes in those days? Better for them than another whole house and the property care that goes with. There are senior apartment places now with assisted living arrangements. Either would give them the independence they want.

We’ve downsized to a condo, and I also cleared out my parents’ house. My advice: be brutal and quick, and take pictures. Really, your siblings and children would rather have a picture of that old chair grandpa sat in, than the chair itself.

In the end, we made a big pile of all the stuff from my parents’ house that was “must keep”, and we had a draft lottery like the NFL. The first picks were all things people wanted. But by the time we got to the later rounds, we had to force each other to take stuff. I remember saying “everybody had to now choose at least one set of the designer plates”, since nobody wanted them any more (they didn’t fetch much on Ebay, either).

So my advice again: do it quickly, brutally, and take pictures. And anybody who didn’t help do the work can just shut up about it.

The upside of the peregrine existences my wife and I had as children is there is no “childhood home” or even “where we grew up.” We have memories (which the other can’t picture) but no baggage. It isn’t really sad.

Always a tragic moment..

If the memories you have of the place you grew up aren’t good, there’s no desire to go back there. I don’t care if I ever see my late parents’ house again.

My mom did that with my dad’s stuff and he passed, even with flowers for his service trashed those. Then when she passed us kids had lot of her stuff as she like to collect pretty dolls and bells, The dolls and bells never sold. We had to sell everything in the house. I was surprised dad always had gas furnace, took 4 years finally sold, this house in metro town and home insurance not found of furnace. Also gas dryer finally sold after 4 years.The house we remolded and now a rental. That was really hard to do.

Unintended consequences of her ideas…..

While it’s the right decision, it IS annoying her dad couldn’t decide when Ellie was, you know, actually THERE.

I’m a Deep Space 9 fan. This reminds of when Odo said “you humans spend your life’s collecting useless junk and when you die your family sells it all and use the money to do the exact same thing”.

she was the one who suggested they should move closer to her so she should be happy that they decided the time was right. i had to go through my parents house when my mom went into long term care; my dad had died years earlier. amazing to find old receipts that were 40-60 years old. brought back memories of happier times.

My wife, who is smart and efficient in every other way, is a pack-rat of the medium-large severity. Can’t throw anything away! Well, most anything. I’ve threatened her with hiring one of those downsizing experts so we can get out of this large size house we don’t need any more. The threat hasn’t done any good yet.

My parents moved when I was overseas in the army, and yes, they did tell me where they moved to.

Another example in the final panel as to why the ex-hippie is so full of beans. The problem is that it resonates a bit too close to home…..

We downsized severely when we moved into an RV. But even now, in our new condo we have one whole bedroom designated as storage plus a large storage unit full. Most of it is just mementos and memories.

Now April and Marian are at the ages where they will be soiling themselves. Talk about a double whammy for Elly.

Life is not without painful moments.

I helped my wife, her brother, and sisters clean out their parents house. It was a day of sadness, tears, joy and laughter. Each item, saved or tossed seem to bring back another memory.

Are you sad to see mementos that may be gone, or facing mom’s mortality? My parents are both gone now… anniversary of my dad’s passing is tomorrow, in fact

Childhood memories of parents house is cherished by one and all.

I’ve been doing something similar too. My mother kept everything and it took me a couple of years sorting through what should be kept and what to discard.