I am picking up on the theme of Rona's blog to tell a story about which I am sure many of you can relate.

As you know, my mom passed a few months back.  We are in the process of getting the house ready to sell.  In doing so, oh, the papers -- so many papers.

When my dad passed in 2017, I did not really tackle the papers.  It didn't seem all that necessary at the time.  My father kept files -- lots and lots of files.  I knew that but there was no urgency to sift through them.

Now that daunting task is upon us and we are finding so much family and personal history.  The emotions are conflicted.  On one hand, I feel like I am learning about my parents in a way I did not imagine but almost feels intentional. Why would my father (in particular) have kept these meticulous files if not for his children to be able to piece together his story?  Even my mom's memory saving seemed intentional.  On the other hand, it almost feels like we are intruding.

So far, we found two separate letters from my dad to each of my mom's parents thanking them for welcoming him to the family and professing his love for their daughter.  Those letters were written and arrived while he was in service in Korea.  We found a college paper my dad submitted to his psychology professor at Brooklyn college in which we heard dad's perspective about a most difficult childhood, health issues we never knew about, and more.  

I can't say I am finding much interest in the years and years of tax returns -- but these files as they appear are literally like reading a novel.  We are not even close to the end of the papers trail and so i suppose there are more stories to uncover.