Did you ever rummage through your parents things

Yes but I was instead surprised by the things I expected to find but didn't.
My dad was known to hide guns in secret places inside his house. He would make hidey holes for them inside a cupboard and under a staircase and the like. I was unable to find any. Even my mom had no clue. I figured I'd probably have to tear the whole place apart to find all of them.
 
Didn’t find anything surprising but I did discover that my paternal grandparents were married a year later than they told everybody.
Meaning my grandmother was six months pregnant with my dad when they actually got married.
Scandalous in the 1930s!:)

Edited to make sense!
 
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Not that I recall, however at my Grandmother's funeral I did find out something surprising. She died after my Grandfather. My Grandfather's best friend told us that she and my Grandfather ran off together to California, unmarried and only got married a few months later when they returned to Louisiana.

The friend had driven them to the railroad station and had to return her father's wagon and told her parents what had happened. That would have been in 1919, just after my Grandfather returned from WWI.

I am sure it was true, but my father denied it to his dying day...
 
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Furryanimal said:
Didn’t find anything surprising but I did discover that my paternal grandparents were married a year earlier than they told everybody.
Meaning my grandmother was six months pregnant with my dad when they actually got married.
Scandalous in the 1930s!:)
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I'm getting a strained brain over this. Wouldn't that "married a year earlier" mean your dad wasn't conceived until they'd been married a good while?
 
Aunt Bea said:
Not totally surprising, but yes, and with a few others.

IMO it should be viewed as a sacred trust to help dispose of a person's possessions without violating their privacy.
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You're absolutely right about this, Aunt Bea, and in my defense I just thought I was looking at an ordinary greeting card my mother had sent my dad, I wasn't expecting all that additional mushy stuff on the inside.:oops:

Just so my son won't be suffering the same kind of cringe moments, last year I did a Swedish Death Cleaning* to rid my personal areas of that sort of thing. Nobody wanted to see that red lace underwear set.

*https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Art-Swedish-Death-Cleaning/dp/1501173243
 
hollydolly said:
I discovered that my grandmother was 2 years younger than she'd said she was... she always claimed to have been born the same day and year as the Queen mother, in 1900, that wasn't true.. she was born on the same date but 2 years later than she'd always claimed...in 1902
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My Grandmother insisted she was 90 when she died, but after her death they found her Birth Certificate and she was actually 100!
Her first husband died at age 34 and since she had 5 children and a horse ranch, she had to remarry. She married a man 16 years younger than herself, so she "became" 10 years younger! She looked young so no one questioned it. I think that was cute!
 
Della said:
You're absolutely right about this, Aunt Bea, and in my defense I just thought I was looking at an ordinary greeting card my mother had sent my dad, I wasn't expecting all that additional mushy stuff on the inside.:oops:

Just so my son won't be suffering the same kind of cringe moments, last year I did a Swedish Death Cleaning* to rid my personal areas of that sort of thing. Nobody wanted to see that red lace underwear set.

*https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Art-Swedish-Death-Cleaning/dp/1501173243
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I had never heard of Swedish Death Cleaning, but it sounds like a wonderful and necessary part of life.
 
I did but I did not find anything that surprised me. After my father died I had thirty five years of stuff to rummage through and dispose of and or keep. It gave me a lot of time to think about the past and future. Along the same lines of holldolly's question. Have you all thought of what you will leave behind for others to find when you pass on? I better get rid of the mountain of Playboy's I have I suppose. I just bought them for the articles but someone might get the wrong idea. They may think I was a womanizer or something. 😇
 
We had a camping friend, met up a couple times a year at different campgrounds around area. Lived about 25 miles away, but never had been to his house, had met up in town for dinner a few times... He died suddenly and we ended up with his personal effects. We went to his house to try and find some family..... WOW WHAT A SURPRISE.... 1st off was a hoarder.... unreal the amount of stuff was piled up... and some nice stuff...
But as we dug deeper.... this guy was a bit on the twisted kinky side...
 
hollydolly said:
..after they passed on ... and find something totally surprising ? :)
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We always knew that my father had flown in a torpedo bomber during WWII, but after he passed we found his flight bag containing assorted flight gear. A bigger surprise was one of those small, steel-bound military suitcases containing his dress uniforms, all neatly folded, wrapped in period newspapers, and tied with butcher's string. With them were his flight logs and assorted paper ephemera including a framed photo of him, his step father, and some friends at a club in Corpus Christi, TX.

Nothing shocking, but a very nice unexpected tie to his past.
 
Tommy said:
We always knew that my father had flown in a torpedo bomber during WWII, but after he passed we found his flight bag containing assorted flight gear. A bigger surprise was one of those small, steel-bound military suitcases containing his dress uniforms, all neatly folded, wrapped in period newspapers, and tied with butcher's string. With them were his flight logs and assorted paper ephemera including a framed photo of him, his step father, and some friends at a club in Corpus Christi, TX.

Nothing shocking, but a very nice unexpected tie to his past.
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how lovely... :giggle:
 
Yes , when I was hunting for my birth certificate, and found the adoption certificate of my eldest sister…
wish I had never ventured into that black box in my parents room ……
 
oldpop said:
I did but I did not find anything that surprised me. After my father died I had thirty five years of stuff to rummage through and dispose of and or keep. It gave me a lot of time to think about the past and future. Along the same lines of holldolly's question. Have you all thought of what you will leave behind for others to find when you pass on? I better get rid of the mountain of Playboy's I have I suppose. I just bought them for the articles but someone might get the wrong idea. They may think I was a womanizer or something. 😇
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I need to appoint someone to wipe the hard drive on my computer when I go! :ROFLMAO:
 
My best friend's aunt died and she was helping to clear out her house. Her aunt was a bit of a hoarder so it took quite a while. Even longer than she expected, because by accident she found money tucked away in a magazine and they had to go through every book and magazine to search for more. They found quite a bit!
 
I bought my grandmother's house and found a shoe box size wooden box with "used pencils" written on the lid. Sure enough inside were pencils worn down to about the last inch or less, like maybe a couple thousand of them! Pretty funny.

As for parents stuff....my sister got my parents house and everything in it. My dad had been dead for years but my mom lived there until she died. My sister packed everything in boxes and moved the stuff out into the barn where it still sits untouched. My mom passed 24 years ago!
 

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