Mason County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 103 Shelton, WA 98584-0103 The Mason Log Volume 14 Issue 7 March 1, 2018 March meeting •   Thursday, March 1st •   7:00 p.m. Start time •   Mason County Historic Society Museum, 5th and Railroad Ave •   Membership dues - single: $15.00 Couple: $20.00 •   Find us on the web at http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wamcgs/ The inside scoop Ø   Clutter or heirlooms Ø   Genealogy websites? Clutter or heirlooms Time; it’s relentless and ruthless, and at some point, it catches up with you. In January, I celebrated my 70th birthday. I know, I’ve been hearing it for years…I should act my age. Contrary to popular opinion, I’ve been acting my age for 70 years, I’m 23. It has to do with a brain condition known as…avoidance. Which brings me to this month’s feature. Clutter or heirlooms and how to tell the difference. As a normal American, I’ve been avoiding the question of those differences since I got married and set up housekeeping with my bride. Of course, children do tend to compound the issue, and they certainly have contributed to both sides of the question. Recently, we helped a neighbor downsize and move into a retirement home. We had prior experience when our parents had to downsize and move into smaller quarters. In all three cases, there were varying degrees of clutter and questions about with who or where do heirlooms end up. The Graham household gained both clutter and heirlooms in mostly equal parts when our parents passed away. As an added bonus, we’ve become the family historians for both of our families, and we’ve become the drop off point for family material which ranges from letters, boxes of notes, pictures, and things (large & small). Lots of stuff. As I was looking around our house, I realized that instead of a house full of family heirlooms, we have a house full of stuff. Some is cleverly disguised as heirlooms, some disguised as clutter, and some fit into both categories. After taking stock of the assemblage it occurred to me, I was at a crossroad. I could take either the low road or the high road. For some reason, the low road had a definite appeal. I could leave the entire mess to my survivors to deal with. I could even make it even more challenging by leaving a note claiming to have hidden a thousand dollars in books, clothes, dishes, etc. This choice does have a certain charm to it. For one, it ensures that the survivors will at least take a cursory glance at the mountain of Graham stuff, especially once they start finding money. I like it! What could wrong? While conducting the feasibility study of this alternative, it occurred to me when I was hiding the bills I could probably do a lot of the downsizing, at the same time. This was beyond disappointing. For better or worse, I am taking the high road. The program for our March meeting is “Preservation and care of family photos”. We also have some business to discuss. , OCR Text: Mason County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 103 Shelton, WA 98584-0103 The Mason Log Volume 14 Issue 7 March 1, 2018 March meeting •   Thursday, March 1st •   7:00 p.m. Start time •   Mason County Historic Society Museum, 5th and Railroad Ave •   Membership dues - single: $15.00 Couple: $20.00 •   Find us on the web at http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wamcgs/ The inside scoop Ø   Clutter or heirlooms Ø   Genealogy websites? Clutter or heirlooms Time; it’s relentless and ruthless, and at some point, it catches up with you. In January, I celebrated my 70th birthday. I know, I’ve been hearing it for years…I should act my age. Contrary to popular opinion, I’ve been acting my age for 70 years, I’m 23. It has to do with a brain condition known as…avoidance. Which brings me to this month’s feature. Clutter or heirlooms and how to tell the difference. As a normal American, I’ve been avoiding the question of those differences since I got married and set up housekeeping with my bride. Of course, children do tend to compound the issue, and they certainly have contributed to both sides of the question. Recently, we helped a neighbor downsize and move into a retirement home. We had prior experience when our parents had to downsize and move into smaller quarters. In all three cases, there were varying degrees of clutter and questions about with who or where do heirlooms end up. The Graham household gained both clutter and heirlooms in mostly equal parts when our parents passed away. As an added bonus, we’ve become the family historians for both of our families, and we’ve become the drop off point for family material which ranges from letters, boxes of notes, pictures, and things (large & small). Lots of stuff. As I was looking around our house, I realized that instead of a house full of family heirlooms, we have a house full of stuff. Some is cleverly disguised as heirlooms, some disguised as clutter, and some fit into both categories. After taking stock of the assemblage it occurred to me, I was at a crossroad. I could take either the low road or the high road. For some reason, the low road had a definite appeal. I could leave the entire mess to my survivors to deal with. I could even make it even more challenging by leaving a note claiming to have hidden a thousand dollars in books, clothes, dishes, etc. This choice does have a certain charm to it. For one, it ensures that the survivors will at least take a cursory glance at the mountain of Graham stuff, especially once they start finding money. I like it! What could wrong? While conducting the feasibility study of this alternative, it occurred to me when I was hiding the bills I could probably do a lot of the downsizing, at the same time. This was beyond disappointing. For better or worse, I am taking the high road. The program for our March meeting is “Preservation and care of family photos”. We also have some business to discuss. , Mason County Genealogical Society,Mason Logs,Mason Logs,2018,V15 I7 MCGS Mar 2018 Newsletter.pdf,V15 I7 MCGS Mar 2018 Newsletter.pdf Page 1, V15 I7 MCGS Mar 2018 Newsletter.pdf Page 1