Home from Long Island

I am home from Long Island without my parents ashes.  My brother was not ready to deal with this yet.  I offered that he and I just take a walk to the beach and release them. I thought that would be easy for him and for me too.  We see the water from his house and their beach is private.  He had all sorts of excuses and his own rituals that he wants to do.  So let it be.  Maybe next time. I  I do understand.  We pulled all the old pictures out of the shed.  Five bins of our parents memories.  I reminded him about  ~ "Remembering They are not our Memories,  but our Parents Memories" ~ he did not get it, also ok.  I did get him to throw out pictures of anyone we did not know.  He had a hard time ripping  them up.  I told him the story about the  elderly lady that lived next door to me.  When she died, the new homeowners had to clean out her house.  She had no family.  All her pictures   still in frames were by the curb.  Not in trash bags or destroyed.  Just laying there like discarded garbage.  So sad.  I vowed that I would never hord  after that day.  My parents had the opportunity of cleaning out their homes themselves.  It is  not nice  to leave a job like that to a stranger.  We did a lot of laughing and reminiscing.  A few tears here and there.  It was emotional to say the least.I needed lots of pictures to give to my cousin  Patty who is throwing an 80th birthday  party for our Aunt Dot,  on the end of August.  I made her two new fresh albums, one of her and her family and one of our Aunt and all the sisters when they were little and grown. My Mom was one of seven girls.  "Talk About Issues"  LOL. My brother decided I needed a new television set.  He schlepped me to five different electronic stores, to do comparative shopping and to inspect the shades of black on the screens.  I thought I would have a breakdown, LOL.  Had to write down all the models I liked.  Finally, we went to WALMART, my favorite store.  We t have no WALMART in the New York City area.  I get a kick out of this store, can buy a tire and a quart of milk all under the same roof.  Luv it.  Anyway, I bought a 32" HD plasma TV, VIZIO brand.  Lars said this was a good brand, he read about it and it passed his inspections.  Ok, its quite nice and it cost $563 w/tax.  Right in my budget.  My brother gave me half the money as a gift for the TV set.  He also set it up for me.  Nice guy, right?  I am glad we vowed never to get into any fights over money or our parents belongings.  I gave his wife my Mother's diamond rings when Mom passed away.  They fit her perfectly and she never had anything like these honkers she says and really likes them too.  Relationships and good feelings are so much more important than  material stuff.  I learn a little more about that each  and every day.  For me, I try to let go and let God, its better this way.  I must say I had a nice time with my family.  Lots of memories, emotions and feelings.  I think that is all good. Luv,Ree