Taking It All In

I apologize for my absenteeism the last few days in Blogland. I had a somewhat busy weekend and then I am involved with an in-service for school to learn all there is and more about Smart Boards (love that name) in 3 very LONG days of training (and broken air conditioner as well). It sounded like a great idea back in February. The reality is: one more high tech hugely expensive gadget to figure out and implement that has WAY too many features to master and no time to do it. I plan to pick up my blog visits again real soon, so thanks for being patient...

This week's prompt for One Single Impression is "assimilate." I purposely try not to look ahead at the prompts until right before I get ready to write or think about my poems. Well, ironically,this prompt hit home in a major way for me, as in the last few weeks I have been really working hard at my mom's going through things and making final decisions as to what to keep and what to sell in the estate sale that was this past weekend. It sounds easy, but not really- especially for someone who is such a sentimentalist and is so attracted to and attached to memories. For me it really is about the memories things evoke. It has been hard to let some things go and difficult to decide what to keep in the family; knowing storage and space issues and constraints. It was hard to see all of my parents things laid out on tables and understanding that their worth could not be expressed by a price tag. I have greater appreciation of what people go through who hold estate sales- it was an emotional experience.
I have unearthed things my mom kept from her mom and grandmother and scrapbooks that my dad had from his WWII days...pictures from the late 1800's and family information that I never knew existed. Lots of tears- yes lots of tears. Tears upon reading the letters my dad wrote my mom when they first started dating and he was getting ready to propose(which she saved for decades) and tears when I came across cards I had made my mom in preschool and letters I had written to them as a senior in high school when I was on the brink of my new life...Sadness that there is no one I can ask and find things out from...and regrets that I didn't take the time when I could have. The end result of all of this is a few things...a new appreciation for documenting family information and...I am now the Keeper of the Family Heirlooms, for which I have re-arranged things and made room in my house for and will now become a part of my life as they were a part of my parents.'

So, yes, "assimilate" has a very personal connotation for me in light of my last few weeks... and here is my simple haiku interpretation for it...

...to some it's just junk
to me it's my parents' world
absorbed into mine

all the "things" are gone
either sold, boxed, or displayed
living on through us...

Thanks for reading and I will get back to Blog Visitation soon!!! Have a wonderful week!