I'm still in the process of decluttering and getting rid of things that I no longer use or need. I've also been going through things that I found downstairs where Mama's bedroom is and I discovered a huge Dooney & Bourke cloth duffel bag filled with copies of old funeral programs/obits and assorted cards that Mama had saved over the years. I knew that she kept every card that she has received, but I didn't know that she had placed them in this huge bag and I also have no idea where she got the bag.
It took a few days, but I was determined to look at each of the cards and funeral programs/obits, and I'm so happy that I did. The bag contained 63 funeral programs/obits and a total of 286 birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas, and cards for other occasions from family and friends. I knew that Mama was a pack-rat and going through this bag confirmed my thoughts. I grabbed a pen and paper to record what I was finding in the canvas bag treasure chest to share what I found.
The oldest of the 63 funeral program/obits that I found was for my Uncle Jim who died in November 1983. I was very surprised to see it and I couldn't believe that Mama still had it.
I found 39 Birthday and Mother's Day cards from my Aunt Mamie to Mama. The oldest card that I found from her was a birthday card dated 11-15-1993.
I found 100 Birthday and Mother's Day cards from Mama's church community. She has multiple "children from other mother's" at church who love and care about her.
I found 147 Birthday and Mother's Day cards from our family to Mama, including four that had been altered a bit to personalize them for their "Big Mama" aka "Biggie".
A few other found treasures were:
A beautiful Birthday Card from Pickle in 1994.
Identical Birthday Cards that Pickle and I gave Mama the same year.
Two Father's Day cards that we gave Mama simply because she deserved them.
A Mother's Day card that Pickle asked me to buy for her that she she didn't get to sign before she died, so I signed it for her. Reading this one again was hard but brought up a sweet memory.
Even though I'm still decluttering, there is no way that I can toss these. I've decided to move them from the Dooney & Bourke bag and put them in a cardboard box for my family to discover likely long after Mama and I are gone. Won't they be in for a big surprise? On to finding more stuff that I probably won't be able to part with either.
Until Next Time,
Marilyn
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