Inheritance
Passing it On
One man’s trash is another man’s inheritance
Some families pass down a brooch or a necklace or even entire estates complete with guest homes to their loved ones. Mine is not one of those. Instead of jewelry or real estate, my family tends to hold onto more mundane items like twenty years’ worth of Newsweek magazines. At some time in the past, there may have been a brooch or even a treasured ring but it was probably lost or sold for hooch. Now most of what my family has kept seems to be the sorts of things people would associate with a low-end antique shop or a high-end hoarder.
My father passed away more than four years ago and I’m still sorting through the inheritance. “Inheritance” seems like a pretty grand term for the random assortment of odds and ends that are boxed up in my basement but it’s more appropriate than words like “legacy” or “heirlooms” which are even further off the mark.
This is, I should mention, the second round of sorting that’s occurred. The first took place by my youngest brother and stepmother who went through all of my father’s belongings and doled them out as they saw fit. It was quite the endeavor and one I feel fortunate to have dodged.
Given that my father passed away during the COVID epidemic when travel was restricted I wasn’t able to see…
