March 2, 2010 – Day 61I bought this bottle of Alfred Sung perfume for a birthday or Christmas gift for mom many years ago; she loved it and wore it often. Shortly after mom died, just over 7 ½ years ago, Ross let me take this nearly empty bottle of perfume and it’s been sitting on my bedroom dresser ever since. I never use it – but because mom loved it, I didn’t have the heart to throw it away. I have a lot of things that mom either gave me while she was alive or I was given by Ross after she was gone, yet none of those things are as precious or as important as the time I spent with her and the memories I have of her.
A few months before mom died, she did a huge decluttering of her house. She said if something happened to her, she didn’t want anyone to have to go through “all this junk”. I don’t think I’m going “anywhere” just yet but I think mom would be pleased that I’m decluttering now. If I could tell her that I’ve been keeping this old, almost empty bottle of perfume just because it once was hers, I’m sure she’d just chuckle and say, “Go ahead Julie Ann, you throw it away”.
Now that I have this picture and bit of journaling to go along with it, I feel like I can keep this memory alive without having to keep the nearly empty bottle of perfume and it’s liberating to have the freedom to be able to actually throw it away.
That is a touching story about Grandma. That is so strange she'd do that shortly before she passed away.
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