Possessions

What are possessions? We spend our lives accumulating things, small things, big things, cheap things and expensive things, but those possessions mean nothing when we are gone.
A lifetime of looking after our things and then suddenly the destiny of those things is in the hand of others, usually family members, but not always, sometimes a persons things will get thrown in to the back of a pick up truck by house clearing firms ready to be taken to the tip.
I only ask these questions as we are in the process of clearing my dads things from his bungalow. There are the big things, like furniture, which can be re-used and fortunately most of his furniture will go to family, but it’s the small things, those things that shouldn’t matter, but surprisingly do. The half used shower gels, the toothpaste and brushes in the plastic beaker, the use once razors that have been used far more than once, it’s these everyday small things that tug at the heart, nobody wants them and it’s right that we throw them away, but it feels like throwing a life away.
Grief hurts and sometimes it’s the unexpected grief that gets to you the most.