TheBanyanTree: Will

[Mark Funk]

NancyIee at aol.com mused >>

"What would happen to the family china and silver if I die be fore I wake?  
Where would all those photo albums end up?"
 
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Like Nancy, I am anguishing over mementoes of the past, but in my case the question is more one of what to keep and what to discard.  I may be wrong but I don't think our daughters or any other relatives I can think of would cherish some of the pictures, relics or memorabilia of the past and we are facing the need to "down size" so we can move to a smaller and less demanding home.
 
Perhaps we have failed them in someway as they don't have our sense of history and our need to feel connected with our past.  To them, much of what we have packed away into every nook and cranny is simply junk, unnecessary clutter.  Oh to be sure, some of it may qualify as antiques and have some value as such, but not as the Aunt Mary's china hutch or Uncle Albin's rifle.
 
On the other hand, although they are not interested in these objects, they do seem genuinely interested in the stories I tell about the people who once possessed them.  Perhaps I need to let go of the objects and put my effort into oral or written histories of the people and events that led to their place in this world.  Perhaps a will, or legacy, should contain both: the object and the history or context behind it and why it is important.
 
Good luck in you pursuit Nancy.
 
Mark