Yes, several people have told me to hire someone. But neither my sister nor I want to--it feels to us like a necessary part of the grieving process. I helped my mother go through my grandmother's and grandfather's things after they died, but missed helping her with my father (my sister did, though), and that last still feels like unfinished business.


But yes, it is overwhelming, on top of the suddenness and the rarity of her fatal condition.


There have been funny moments--such as when I opened a box and a dozen amplified telephone handsets fell out. Or when we were dragging stuff out of the attic and kept spotting more further back (the attic has no floor, you scuttle from rafter to rafter and hope you don't fall).