My mother died eight years ago this month. Within fairly short order, my brother and I packed up and cleaned out the house—and then started renting it out. It's in a desirable part of Santa Monica and brings us a tidy little income.
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| My mom's last Christmas |
Today, I went back for the first time since mid-2008. We now have a wonderful tenant (Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's daughter), and she obviously loves the house. It's cozy and warm, beautifully decorated—despite still being vintage 1970s in most ways. She gave us a full tour, and we talked about who lived in which rooms before. (My room is now the guest room. My brother's room, for the scant year he lived in the house, is Patti's writing room.)
I have to admit, though, it was a little strange to go into what was my father's study (now a sitting/reading room) and see pictures of Reagan on the shelves. Then again, my father probably would have approved. He got conservative in his old age. He died before Reagan was elected.
When we were packing up my mother's things, rather than keep everything, I took a lot of photos. Here are a few.
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| Vase and pitcher painted by my grandmother. Kept. |
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| Antique. Not kept. |
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I remember these from earliest days. I don't know why my
parents had them, but I love them. Kept. |
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| Geisha: me; turkey: my brother (maybe kept? not sure) |
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I tossed a lot of photos of places and people I did not recognize.
But that guy on top? that's my dad. I kept him. Needless to say.
And I'm pretty sure the picture below is of my mom, age 57-ish. |
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| My mother loved birds. Here are some of them. |
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| Sherry glasses. I took four; my brother took two. |
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Fuller Brush Man spatulas. Curiously enough, I kept these.
They make an interesting bouquet, don't you think? |
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Swizzle stick parrots from a local Mexican restaurant,
and a beer stein from our stay in Munich |
4 comments:
I loved reading this--it's fascinating what we keep. I keep thinking about knocking on the door of my childhood home...
yes…… knock on the door of your childhood home. I love these pictures of the artifacts of your family's life together. Fantastic idea to keep digital pictures and climb out from behind that "too much". Again easy, lovely, enjoyable read.
and…… I really enjoy the bouquet of fuller brush man spatulas (one a year for years?). there's a story there, and they look cool.
love the pictures.. and wow - patti davis....thats interesting for alot of reasons!
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