This post resonates as I'm preparing to move through a similar process with my mum. She has suffered severe cognitive decline these pandemic years. She has porcelain tea pots, Wedgwood plates, a silver set specifically for eating fish, among other treasures my siblings and I won't quite know what to do with.
I came across this short story in Orion magazine this week, written by Barry Lopez. It reminded me of the Indigenous principle of reciprocity and culture of generosity, how objects, usually living/being objects, must move between people to perpetuate good energy. I know it's tangential, but it made me feel better. https://orionmagazine.org/article/the-trail-essay-barry-lopez/
Very interesting. In a way, that is the point of handing these things down through the generations. But what happens to that energy (meaning, story) when the objects are refused? Or simply lost.
You prompt me to think or ponder on the mystery of what DOES survive the holocaust of time. It's fascinating to me to see just what objects and stories do get passed down (as opposed to the family secrets that die or the daily trivialities that vanish or what the heart felt at this or that moment).
Thank you, Syd. Not for the faint of heart, for sure. Another literary reference is, of course, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, in which the shallow bourgeois family loses its patrimony to the practical, money-making underclass entrepeneur. A brutal judgement on the family. I hear the ax-blades biting in the distance.
Hadn’t thought of the Chekhov. Must go back and read. BTW we can Face Time from here on the NB border if you want to. Love to you and F from
Is.
You mean right now? A good time.
This post resonates as I'm preparing to move through a similar process with my mum. She has suffered severe cognitive decline these pandemic years. She has porcelain tea pots, Wedgwood plates, a silver set specifically for eating fish, among other treasures my siblings and I won't quite know what to do with.
I came across this short story in Orion magazine this week, written by Barry Lopez. It reminded me of the Indigenous principle of reciprocity and culture of generosity, how objects, usually living/being objects, must move between people to perpetuate good energy. I know it's tangential, but it made me feel better. https://orionmagazine.org/article/the-trail-essay-barry-lopez/
Very interesting. In a way, that is the point of handing these things down through the generations. But what happens to that energy (meaning, story) when the objects are refused? Or simply lost.
You prompt me to think or ponder on the mystery of what DOES survive the holocaust of time. It's fascinating to me to see just what objects and stories do get passed down (as opposed to the family secrets that die or the daily trivialities that vanish or what the heart felt at this or that moment).
Wonderfully penetrating, Doug. I recall going through a similar process. Not for sissies.
Thank you, Syd. Not for the faint of heart, for sure. Another literary reference is, of course, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, in which the shallow bourgeois family loses its patrimony to the practical, money-making underclass entrepeneur. A brutal judgement on the family. I hear the ax-blades biting in the distance.