I once was lost but now I’m found
I knew there was a blasted projector! I even think I remember when it got packed up. I’m not sure I remember when it got transported down to The Planet Ann Arbor but judging by where I found it, it has been here since spring or summer 2012.
So, where did I find it? Right down at the bottom of the stairs to the Landfill Dungeon, that’s where. In a big box on top of the Red Cabinet. It was even labeled “Projector”, among other things (lots of photos in great disarray…). I have not exactly been looking for the projector but I have been looking for old photoooos and that led me to haul ANOTHER bunch of old photooos from the moomincabin and THAT trunk-full of photooos also included some old 8mm films and that started to get me wondering where the heck the projector was. Why did I not find it sooner? Because the label was on the TOP of the box and I have to stand on tippy-toes to see it. When I DID finally do that this afternoon, I thought, “Oh yeah, THAT box! I remember that box!”
Okay, the GG just came home and informed me that this is a SLIDE projector, not a MOVIE projector. That burst my bubble just a wee bit. I know that we had a slide projector. I THOUGHT we had a MOVIE projector. But maybe not. I think my uncle Don had one and it seems like I can remember him filming us all at family events. Also taking photos and showing the slides later on. I remember him with this big camera with a huge bright light. Not sure what it was but we did love those slideshows. There was one where Radical Betty and Susie and I fergit who else (npJane, maybe?) were sitting on a couch with a “What was said?” kind of look on their faces. Anyway, I did remember a projector of some sort and today I found it. Yay me.
I am forever in debt to the GG for all of the work he did carefully cleaning out Command Central after The Commander died. Hauling stuff to Habitat. Hauling stuff to the moomincabin garage. Hauling stuff to Megalopolis and The Planet Ann Arbor. Prodding me (when I was actually up there and not working) to get going by assigning me a wee tidbit of a task when I was standing there with my mouth kind of flapping ba-da ba-da ba-da. I had precious little paid time off at that point after spending the winter in the hoosegow and hospice with her. I thought that I felt “free”, rather than exhausted. In reality, I was both. He did a good job and checked with me about getting rid of stuff he felt might be controversial. Usually we concurred…
I know that a lot of folks hold estate sales after their last parent dies and just kind of walk away from the old house. My BFF did that. MMCB and her sister went through their mom’s stuff like the GG and I did. Both of these friends of mine went through this stuff the same year and season that I did. I think all three of us made the right decision for ourselves. The Commander didn’t really have THAT much stuff although there were and are moments when it gets a bit overwhelming. She had been diligently working on sorting and cleaning out stuff for the five years between when my old coot died and she had to move to assisted living. If the GG had not been available to help or wasn’t willing to help or wanted to just get rid of everything willy-nilly, I’d’ve probably hired an estate sale type person. I hope I would’ve remembered to save the photos and stuff first though. As luck would have it, I married somebody my mother loved and trusted and with good reason because he helped me handle her possessions with the care I think she would have wanted. There was a lot of history in that house that she and our family want to be preserved and the GG has been my partner in preserving that which needed to be preserved.
Oh heck, I hope I don’t sound maudlin about all this. I am finding myself reflecting on life a bit more now that I have no living parents (or siblings) but I am not really all that maudlin. Please do not cry for me. I am okay!!! That’s what friends and family and decent careers are for.
P.S. I still think we had a mooooovie projector when I was a kid. But, if we did, I bet it bit the dust a loooong time ago.
November 19th, 2013 at 8:32 pm
“Tis the season to feel a bit maudlin. I know I do. We HAD to clear out my MIL’s stuff through estate sales and donations because she lived in our other house, was sort of a hoarder(collector?) and we needed to rent it. My husband got stuck doing most of it (his family was mostly worthless) and I still think that the stress of all of it contributed to his cancer.