My grandmother was known for many things, amongst them the fact that she was a collector. Of things. Books. Scarves. China. Fabric. Postcards. Jewellery. Knickknacks. In the years since she passed, we – my mother and I – have had to decide what to do with all that stuff she left behind. Who gets what? What do we keep? What do we giveaway? What needs to be discarded?It’s a lot of work, much of which we just keep putting off.

Recently, my mother called, lamenting about the boxes and trunks we had already emptied taking up a lot of space in storage and how she didn’t want to get rid of them because they were of really good quality and mostly still in top shape. Most of them are too large and too heavy to be considered for personal travel. I assured her we’d find good use for them.