For Sale

My mother's house went on the market last Thursday. I met my sister there today for what we hoped was the final surge of clearing out and cleaning up. Even though we've been heading towards this step for months, it was still a shock to actually see the For Sale sign up.

Jean and I worked hard all afternoon, packing up things for the Salvation Army pickup, loading up bags of trash, and doing a bit of staging so the house would look its best for prospective buyers. We had a job to do and for the most part we kept a tight grip on our emotions so we could get our work done, but there were a few times I just had to pause and take a deep breath.


These well-worn Scooby-Doo Memory Card game were a sweet reminder of all the times Grandma played with Paul and her other grandchildren. She never hesitated to clear off the coffee table, spread out cards or a game and give her full attention to playing with whoever was visiting. These particular cards were a big hit with the younger set, from about three to five years old. But Grandma had all kinds of games for all ages of children.


The strawberry-picking bucket brought back memories of way back when I was in my teens and twenties and Mom and I would go to the Darrow Strawberry Fields and pick flats of berries for freezer jam. Those markings on the outside were made by the Darrow folks when they weighed our pickings. Back then, a ride out to Darrow's was a ride into the deep countryside on narrow winding roads. Now the big highway is in, and Darrow's is gone, replaced by the Strawberry Fields subdivision, only about a mile from where I live now.


No visit to Grandma's was complete without a cookie. Paul never knew this old cookie jar; it was worn out by the time he came along. My guess is that my sister-in-law Kathy made it during the years when her little ones were in and out of Grandma's house all the time. It's telling that Grandma never threw it away. Now there's just this photograph and a lot of wonderful memories.