This past week I have been helping my sister with an estate sale. We were responsible for sorting all the contents of a home and then selling it all in a two day sale. The house belonged to a woman that I will call Esther. She passed away about a year ago and her daughter, who lives in another town, is trying to sell the house and didn't want to bother with all of the possessions. It was Esther's home, her sanctuary, the place she spent all of her time and it was eerie to dig through everything and put a price on what it was worth. I learned many things about Ms. Esther as I invaded her home and pried into her life. She carried sweet-n-low and tissues in her purses, she smoked like a chimney, she was an avid reader who preferred biographies and romance novels, she wore Depends, she was NOT an interior decorator, she liked to gamble, she loved her grandson who lived with her until he was sent to prison, she never threw away junk mail, she always wore a moo-moo although she had enough clothes to fill three closets, she didn't cook much and she didn't have many friends or know her neighbors.

As I constantly blew my nose from the dust, held my breath to keep the smokey stench from infecting my lungs and prayed that I would stop finding dead mice in the closets, I kept thinking, "what stories does my home tell about me?". Perhaps that I like to cook, I hate mopping the kitchen, I have clothes that are too small for me in my closet (that I WILL wear again!!), I don't splurge on expensive things, my family is important to me, my child is extraordinarily messy with his toys, I like clocks and my pregnancy books are still under my bed. But I was also reminded of how short our time hear on earth really is and how much we leave behind. Junk. Stuff. Things. Mementos. Keepsakes. Collectables. It was a great lesson in what is important in life and brought a new perspective for me. What do I have that is priceless, worthwhile, lasting, and will continue to have meaning when I am gone? It is this that I will choose to "collect" while I am here for this short time.