The end of a book.

One of my mom's old friends said it best. "I feel like I just finished reading a book...."

It's hard to describe the feelings you go through after both parents have passed away. Over the past few weeks I've felt overwhelmed, emptiness, sadness, shock and happiness - but through it all I've had a sense of determination to get by, by being pragmatic and trying to maintain a sense of humor. My mom was a strong woman - and I wanted to live by her example.

Because my dad died unexpectedly, we had lots to do beyond the typical paperwork. We had to deal with a house full of 42 years of memories (and a healthy amount of junk), and an apartment to empty - despite just moving my dad in 3 weeks prior.

We had a dumpster delivered and with the help of 3 friends, filled it with junk from the basement in just 3 hours! Did you know my dad collected bicycle parts? We threw away at least 10 bicyle frames and numerous rusted handlebars, wheels and tires. We also found work training manuals from the 60s, phone bills from the 70s, and at least 6 coffee pots. :-)

Once the clear junk was removed, we had a second dumpster delivered and brought everything up from the basement and into the garage.

While the sorting was tough, we had a lot of fun reliving memories, and over the next several blog posts, I'll be sharing some of the finds we found interesting. Some are personal, some are amusing, and some are downright bizarre - but I hope you'll get a laugh or a smile from them like we did.