Thank you Eleanor. Thank you for sharing what worked for you and your family. It was a pleasure to read. I am a boomer but have the struggles your generation has, as does my son who is a millennial, so that is confusing! And we all have been sandwiched between our aging parents and our kids, and it is incredibly hard for us all with full time jobs, often living on the other side of the country. I like your ideas: short term projects, fast fixes. I know zero people who are prioritizing remodeling their homes or bathrooms or kitchens anymore. As my life shrinks with retirement, I know less people, certainly less wealthy people. Retirees are usually ready to start letting go, or if not ready, must start to, regardless. How civilized and fortunate that your Mom had a professional to help her go through her things. It is too easily fraught with emotion when our kids try to help us, or when we help our kids. That is a service well worth paying for.
Yes, the service provided was excellent. One thing that was interesting though, is that a service can't actually make decisions for you. But having the deadlines and the logistical support was useful for my mom. My mom is the kind of person to avoid feeling emotional about an object. I share that without bias attached. It just is that way. She has moved the family household so many times (six or seven times) that I think she learned to let go ruthlessly as a strategy, a coping mechanism, a survival technique. Once in a while she wishes there was one thing or another she hadn't let go of, but that's very rare.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, especially about the generations. Intuition tells me our collective stressors with the excess of responsibilities is only partially related to generational wealth. But the lack of wealth in the younger generations certainly adds to the crunch.
What a beautiful piece on so many levels. (When you say big pants, I think BIG PANTIES! Which is what you wore in the many months and years of doing this work -- professionally and with your mom in particular). Sending ease to your right sized life.
Thank you Eleanor. Thank you for sharing what worked for you and your family. It was a pleasure to read. I am a boomer but have the struggles your generation has, as does my son who is a millennial, so that is confusing! And we all have been sandwiched between our aging parents and our kids, and it is incredibly hard for us all with full time jobs, often living on the other side of the country. I like your ideas: short term projects, fast fixes. I know zero people who are prioritizing remodeling their homes or bathrooms or kitchens anymore. As my life shrinks with retirement, I know less people, certainly less wealthy people. Retirees are usually ready to start letting go, or if not ready, must start to, regardless. How civilized and fortunate that your Mom had a professional to help her go through her things. It is too easily fraught with emotion when our kids try to help us, or when we help our kids. That is a service well worth paying for.
Yes, the service provided was excellent. One thing that was interesting though, is that a service can't actually make decisions for you. But having the deadlines and the logistical support was useful for my mom. My mom is the kind of person to avoid feeling emotional about an object. I share that without bias attached. It just is that way. She has moved the family household so many times (six or seven times) that I think she learned to let go ruthlessly as a strategy, a coping mechanism, a survival technique. Once in a while she wishes there was one thing or another she hadn't let go of, but that's very rare.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, especially about the generations. Intuition tells me our collective stressors with the excess of responsibilities is only partially related to generational wealth. But the lack of wealth in the younger generations certainly adds to the crunch.
What a beautiful piece on so many levels. (When you say big pants, I think BIG PANTIES! Which is what you wore in the many months and years of doing this work -- professionally and with your mom in particular). Sending ease to your right sized life.