Wednesday 13 August 2014

Clearing days!

Having spent a few days trying to sort out various wardrobes in the house I am staggered by how many clothes David actually had!

I thought I was the worst hoarder of unwanted, unworn gear, safely stowed away in case they ever came in again but I find I was not alone in this!

When we first got together David looked at my wardrobe and took out a tape measure.

"Four feet of skirts." He pronounced.

So yesterday I found six feet of shirts! Five feet of trousers, four feet of jackets.....you are getting the picture....

We always kept our clothes apart...he looked after his, washed, ironed and hung up...he washed and ironed mine too....but I hung them up...they were in different rooms. I never even looked in his wardrobes...so this has been a journey of discovery this week...

It's been painful. Old memories stirred, clothes kept for distinct occasions. Henley clothes separated from cruise clothes...

Many many shirts bought by me along with cashmere jumpers and cardigans that I now see that he really didn't need!

Some of his stuff has gone to old friends of similar build..but most will go to the charity shop that opens every summer in the church hall. I just wish I'd started this weeks ago...

2 comments:

UKViewer said...

It's one of those jobs that are painful and full of memories. A friend of ours, whose wife died in January, still hasn't been able to cope with clearing her things. He is going to make a start, supported by their children who will be quite gentle, but ruthless with it all. His problem is closure. Because his wife died under the surgeons knife and inquest is necessary, and it has been delayed tiwce and now isn't until November.

It's an ongoing saga of hurt and pain, and reliving each time the inquest has been delayed. She went in for a simple operation to correct arterial issues and died on the table. The surgeon wouldn't tell him what went wrong and he still doesn't have an explanation. They released her body for cremation but, so far, no death certificate, which means that finalising the estate, despite a will being left is on hold as well.

He's distraught and it's just coming up to their anniversary on the 24th August - we're going with other friends and family who were at their wedding to support him on the day with a surprise bbq - taking him to somewhere other than home.

He is also disabled and Ann did a lot for him, including driving their mobility car, so while he is able to drive, it's difficult and he's virtually trapped indoors a great deal of the time. Lots of visitors, but he has asked us not to talk about the inquest as he finds it too painful.

Ray Barnes said...

This is a problem we all have to face at some time and no-one finds it easy.
While it is obvious that some things will have very special memories, others may well be things you loathed but never commented on,
My step-grandson had a couple of John's very good shirts but was not interested in anything else (25 year olds and 75 year olds have somewhat different tastes), so I wrote to the Salvation Army and explained that the huge number of very good quality clothes would be no earthly use to anyone under 6'4".
I bagged them up into 6 full black sacks and they collected them.
It is good to think they won't have gone to waste, but empty wardrobes are a strange phenomena.
Needless to say they are no longer empty:)