Jon Carroll on sorting through a loved one's memories


	Jon Carroll on sorting through a loved one's memories

Lexica

10-2-2009 4:58 PM

58 views

tags:

aging, death, memories, family, love, passages

Lexica says:

Anyone who has had to sort through the belongings of a loved one who has died or gone into a care facility will be able to relate to this.

I miss my mom.

Add a Comment

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from October 2, 2009

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a9785a47-7430-4caa-8659-aa9534914d52/34F7D815-A4D0-478F-AA22-6E83FB98A819/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll" style="font-size: 11px;">www.sfgate.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll">Now Ruth is 98, and she is moving from the 20th floor to the 22nd floor, which is more like a hospital than any kind of apartment building. Her mind is still sharp, but her body is beginning to betray her.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll">It's sad. It's all sad. We all grow older, and although there's often good news along the way, ultimately the news is bad.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll">And Tracy is now cleaning out Ruth's apartment, and I am helping by lugging things and making the easy decisions. We are trying to be coldhearted, but there are not as many easy decisions as one might think.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll">And these are not really my memories anyway. These are artifacts from Tracy's life, or from Tracy's memories - I was there too, but I was a visitor.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll"><P>And yet, for all our expressed determination to be unsentimental, I am carrying a rug and mirror we really don't need and may not even be able to use down to the car, because it seems important to value household gods. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDEP19V6A2.DTL&feed=rss.jcarroll"><P>I imagine a lot of you have gone through this, or some version of it. None of it is easy.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/34F7D815-A4D0-478F-AA22-6E83FB98A819/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks: Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!

Clipmarks: Home; New Clips; Top Clips; Dashboard

Popular Topics: News; Life; Science; Technology; Entertainment

Get Started: Sign Up; Install Clipping Tool; How Clipping Works; Clip-to-Blog™; ClipSearch

Tools and Resources: FAQ; ClipWeek; Top Clippers; Top Tags; Site Map

About Clipmarks: About Us; Contact; Copyright; Privacy; EULA

Search Options

Today's Top Clips