One Possession

After the death of someone close, we’re often faced with cleaning up and disposing of what they left behind.

            Although there are some possessions we wish they would have taken with them, their possessions are what we physically have left – their coffee cup with the stain, the tools they used for their hobbies, the scent in their clothes, and their ashes.

            After Ev died, I wanted to keep everything, and I mean everything. Even her handwritten notes identifying food in the freezer and the to-do list on the board, with smiley faces indicating her preference for which tasks we should tackle next, because I didn’t want to lose anything that reminded me of some part of her personality, laughter, or sense of style.

            As the survivor, I became the gatekeeper of her life. Some memories, the everyday ones, I welcomed, while others I put off, the ones filled with emotions, hoping that they wouldn’t slip away before I was ready to deal with them. I had a recording of her voice on the answering machine, although part of me was afraid to listen, worried that it might drag me back down into death’s hole. To be safe, I recorded a new message on a second channel, but during a power outage several months later I lost her voice.

            Not all of her memories had possessions to remind me, like how we cuddled in bed, the look in her eyes when she woke in the morning, or her hand in mine as we walked around town doing our shopping. I didn’t know what I could do to ensure that I never forgot them.

            There came a time, however, when some of these reminders began to get in the way, like the bathrobe on the back of the door. After a year of taking it down every time I took a shower, I felt annoyed that I had to put it back up. Which, of course, I didn’t. It was an old habit that no longer served a purpose, other than to keep her close. I began to realize that I was shifting from living with a real person to living with her shadow. I also realized that if I didn’t get rid of some of her things, I would never be able to reset the house for the living of one and begin constructing my new life.

            Possessions are hard to dispose of because of the emotions involved. Each item tells a story that we don’t want to forget. 

            I began by culling out items I would never use, like her dresses and shoes. Her business clothes were taken to a place that helped low-income women acquire the outfits they needed to interview for good jobs. A few clothes I kept for sentimental reasons, like her ruby red dress. Some I kept because they were tactile, like her nubby black sweater and her silky blue slip. I also kept the round onyx box that held her rings.

            Most of her hair care products went, as did her brushes and combs. I had no affinity for the ceramic bells she collected, and checked around to see who might appreciate them. Her teaching supplies were boxed and carted to one of her teaching friends. Photos were taken of what I gave away to remind me in case I made a mistake.

            After several months of sorting what I found in drawers and closets, in boxes in the garage, and then in boxes in the storage shed from our last move, I had pared, tossed, whittled, pruned, and shared on perpetual loan most of her things, and I was down to several boxes that would travel with me wherever I went. 

            If I eventually get down to one possession, I think it will be something that she never owned.

            Shortly after she died, I saw a red alabaster heart that was large enough to fill my hand, and I bought it. Her heart is what I treasure and miss the most — her love for me and her compassion for anyone who was suffering. This I never want to forget.