Nearly every client I’ve worked with has some sort of textile that has transcended its original purpose and has turned into memorabilia. It could be baby clothes, heirloom linens, a beloved relative’s item of clothing, or T-shirts that are souvenirs from memorable events. Sometimes these items are taking up valuable drawer or closet space. I encourage clients to separate these items from active clothing or linens and put them into a memorabilia box so that they don’t complicate decisions about what…
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The first time my name appeared in The New York Times was in January of 2013. I had submitted an anecdote to their weekly column called Metropolitan Diary, and it had been printed! I had recently worked with a client who had also been included in Metropolitan Diary, as did her husband at another time. Both columns had been framed and hung in their kitchen. So when my story got printed, I decided to get it ready for framing. Rather than cutting it…
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One of my daily pleasures is doing the crossword puzzle in the New York Times. In yesterday’s puzzle, the clue for 9-down was “Things meant to be used and then thrown away.” I knew the answer right away: ephemera. I use this word frequently with my clients because I want to help them decide which paper items they should save and which they should let go. Dictionary.com further defines ephemera as “items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, especially…
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After my father passed away earlier this year, I took possession of his priceless family photo albums. These were photos that he had obtained over the years from his parents. Some of them showed his parents when they were teenagers back in Hungary in the early part of the 20th century. Others were of him and his brothers during their youth in Brooklyn. Some included their young wives, including my mother. I knew that these photos were special and needed to be…
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After my father passed away at the end of January, my sister and I took two months to clear out our family apartment (as I described in Home is Where the Heart Is). Although most of our parents’ possessions were sold, donated, or discarded, I brought home a bag of things that I just didn’t feel right about throwing away. These things were not valuable or even of great sentimental value. They were simply items that my parents had held on to for many…
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