What I am learning through Dad’s clutter
He’s been gone from here 3 months now. Almost 4.
I miss him like crazy. It still hits me in waves. Especially when I hear a song about heaven, or read an article about something science related, or go through a week like last week.
This week I worked up the courage and initiative to go through the boxes (and boxes) of pictures and paper treasures that he had been saving for decades.
I got through the pictures rather quickly, as we had gone through most of them as a family when we were together for his memorial in November. I organized them roughly according to decade and put them in photo boxes that I had purchased (on clearance) for just such an occasion. It was fun to look again at photos documenting my daddy’s early life, and life before me, and then our life together.
The sequencing was interesting to me. To me, the eras were organized roughly as follows: before Dad; Dad as a baby/child/teen; Dad and Mom before kids; Dad and Mom with David and Sarah; Dad and Mom with David, Sarah, me, and Rachel; Dad with Laraine; Dad with David, Sarah, me, and Rachel; Dad with Dane, Amelia, and Justin; and then later, older Dad and Laraine with Amelia; and finally older Dad and Laraine with all of us and our kids.
The phases were just revealing to me.
Anywho, after I got through the pictures I started going through his paper treasures. The man saved a lot of things. I am in the process of sorting what was important to him, but wouldn’t matter much to the rest of us, and what is worth saving as a part of his memory and/or family history.
One thing is for sure. My dad took great pride in his children. He saved a lot of our school work and report cards. He saved lost teeth and hair cuttings. He saved a lot of our art, especially my brothers, and any notes or letters we wrote to him. We were also in the paper quite a bit as kids, and he saved all of those clippings.
Some of the other things he saved are pretty normal I suppose. He saved birth announcements, death announcements, wedding invitations, bulletins that contained important family events or announcements. He saved a lot of news clippings, some of which took some searching to figure out why they were significant, and if they still were.
Some of the most intriguing things that I found are letters to and from Dad. The topics are varying, but each reveals a little bit of who my dad was. Some are notes of encouragement to him from professors, fellow pastors, or board members. Some are rejection letters with best wishes. Some are his letters explaining a conflict or why he felt the Lord was leading him in a different direction. So interesting. Pieces of my dad I was never aware of.
Perhaps I will reflect on individual pieces more later. Some are quite stirring and I am still figuratively chewing on them.
For now, I am just grateful to be experiencing these pieces of my dad.
What pieces of history do you hold on to?
Blessings!
Hannah
1 Comment
my grand father recently passed away and i am currently going threw the same thing. its really interesting to see a life before technology. one thing that i keep that is very important to me is programs from every show i have ever been a part of and sporting events and things i have been to. i keep saying im going to scrapbook them if i ever get creative. hope all is well with you and the family
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