After my in-laws passed away, I spent several weeks helping to clear their home of a lifetime of memories. If only I could have asked them some of the questions running through my mind.
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"Mom, tell me about the carefully folded quilt on the top shelf of your closet. Did you make that or did someone make it for you?"
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"Dad, I see you used to be a coin collector. When did you become interested in coins and what got you started?"
So many seemingly sentimental items passed through my hands during those weeks, but no one in the family knew the stories behind those things. So sadly, the sentimental history passed away along with their keepers.
I, too, have sentimental things sitting on shelves and hidden away in boxes. Most of these things have no value at all unless they are paired with a story. I need to tell those stories before they are lost forever.