A Flat Day

It was a very surreal day yesterday. Ann and I, together with Neil and Debbie, met at Mum’s Flat, and began the task of working through everything. Thanks for your kind thoughts everyone, together with the cards - they mean a lot.

All your suggestions about ‘trying to remember the good times’ was the philosophy we adopted for the day - and it worked. Sifting through the variety of bits and pieces triggered a variety of emotions, as we decided their final destination! Inevitably, there was some sadness along the way, as we black-sacked a lot of memory-triggering ‘stuff’, but there also some giggles as well, the funniest being when we uncovered Mum’s secret stash of Bailey’s and Vouvray wine - we know she liked a little tipple every so often, but these stock levels would have rivalled Unwin’s!

A ‘mass moist-eye moment’ too, when we found a hand-written letter by Mum to Neil and me, written some 20+ years ago, offering us her thoughts about coping with the aftermath of her passing. How prophetic!

Almost five hours later, we reached a point where, after ‘redeploying’ 60+ black sacks, donating various items to worthy causes, and retaining the heirlooms and family-related documentation,  we’d got about as far as we could go. So, it was off to the local Costa to discuss and work-through the mountain of paperwork - and think about the logistics of the funeral. An hour later, we had a plan in place, and so we said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways - each with a sizeable to-do list.

Phew! What a rollercoaster of a day. It was a day that needed doing, and one that took us all back in time, if only for a moment, to share brief glimpses into what seemed like simpler times - I’d quite forgotten the joy of being a kid and living at home with Mum and Dad - no responsibilities, no mortgage - and no money worries! Seemed just perfect - when did it all get so complicated?


It’s hard to sum-up the impact of the day as a whole - I think we both felt pretty ‘flat’ on the journey home - perhaps ‘bitter-sweet’ is the phrase?