I decided a week or so ago that I really should digitize my old photographs. While I have little trouble throwing away most of the physical copies of pictures of myself, I am finding it very difficult throwing away pictures of my aging mother, and even more so of my late father. It was from this internal struggle that this story was born.

As always, all feedback welcomed.

Yeah, I'm sympathizing. I always find it difficult to throw away things, particularly those that hold memories.

At least we now live in an age where we can inexpensively and easily take pictures of the physical objects that inspire memories. I'm finding that to be very helpful in letting go of objects that I don't actively use or enjoy, but that I otherwise would have liked to have held onto for the memories they inspire. I figure that the memories can just as easily be inspired by a picture of the item as by the item itself.

I've decided to cut myself a little break and plan to hold onto one box of physical photographs and paper mementos (cards, etc.): the best of the best. I'll see whether I can keep the resolve to get rid of all of the rest. Actually, I know I will be breaking it slightly, since there is one album of my son's childhood that is too large to fit into the box. I just can't bear to throw those pics into the trash. But even so, if I can otherwise hold to my resolve, I will have eliminated many boxes of stuff.

Oh my, Lynn. I know this is so hard! But is sounds like you actually have a good plan. My parents have been gone for many years. Our home was full of things that belonged to them or they gave me. It took a long time, but over the years, as I would force myself to sort through these items; eventually, I was able to part with some things--a few each time. The pictures are particularly tough along with things my mother made, like her beautiful hand-stitched quilts.

I like your idea of taking pics of items. Wish I had done that!

Well done.

I know what you mean about the hand-made things. I have more blankets than I know what to do with, but I just can't bring myself to part with any of the ones my Mom had knit or crocheted.

Speaking as a knitting, parting with those items are the hardest, simply because each stitch was created with love and is an heirloom. Is there any young person in your family who would cherish them as much as you do?

As for the photographs, I think you have a good plan.

Hi Morgana,

The only needlework I ever did was cross-stitching, and I had to stop that decades ago because of a repetitive stress injury. But I did see the hours upon hours my Mom put into her work. Unfortunately, the only relative I have younger than myself is my son; he will certainly get two or three of the blankets once he moves into his group home upon graduating from school, but I know that he doesn't have the intellectual capacity to understand enough to fully appreciate them for anything more than their softness and weight. (Although he turns 21 in a couple of months, his mental functioning is roughly that of a two or three year old. And I have long suspected that his sensitivity to temperature changes is far reduced compared to most people; I doubt he would even realize that the blankets make him warmer.) Someday I'll see whether any of my friends would want some of the others. Any that remain will eventually get donated somewhere. There are a couple I plan to keep as long as I am capable of doing so.

Thanks for the suggestion.