During this past six weeks since returning from our Peru/Bolivia trip, my time has been overwhelmed with caring for my mother. She had to be moved to a nursing home, then after their miserable care for her, we moved her a second time about ten days ago. During that time I've been sick ... and trying to stay active in my ministry ... then sick... eeks, behind in everything now. But my mother is now settled in an excellent situation, and I can turn back to my priorities.
I've been working in the office, and achieved a lot. But the office has been the most difficult for us. We have so many papers that need decisions - keep? trash? shred? Some are business papers, some are sentimental, like old vacation memories. I'm trying to get rid of 90%, and just keep a few things that capture the memory of the trip.
I went through boxes and boxes of old photos. It was amazing, how many photos of flowers blooming I had. And it told me, again and again, that it truly is only photos with PEOPLE in them that matter, really. Even vacation photos of beautiful lakes, mountains - they are lovely, but meaningless. I can see even better photos in books or in the internet. But of family or friends - those are treasured. I will scan them and then decide - pitch? store?
We also had boxes of old 8mm video. The British Museum, Paris, Alaska. I pitched them all. (Just writing that gives me a bit of heartache... was I wrong?) I kept family videos, and will see how I can get them transferred to digital media.
So, in our office we had two desks, both piled with "to-do's". I managed to get rid of one. The other is still piled with Stuff, but I'm making progress. Shelves are coming off the wall, and we'll paint soon.
Gotta run now. I'm going to go through another file cabinet, to sort and pitch.
Nancy, everyone in my family can relate with your collection of blooming flower pictures. We also have hundreds of shots of food on the table, getting cold while we are all waiting for my grandfather to finish taking the picture so that we can start eating. Once he moved on to camcorders, we sat through hours of VHS footage of ice carvers on cruises...before that, it was Super 8 reels of roadside scenery on cross country trips, often taken through the passenger window, with an unsteady hand. Yeah, I really feel like watching those again. Wanna come over?
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