I’m sorry about your brothers, TOL. I really am.
My mother didn’t realize what it was. She was missing me, and went through my apt to get it nice and pretty for me since I had been working for three weeks abroad in London. She had dusted, watered plants, got mail, etc.
She did the laundry I had in the laundry pail and was putting it away and just decided to throw it out, not realizing what it was.
She felt bad about it later.
I put the other cats toys in a small cardboard box and labeled it. Mom knows she can’t throw it out.
I’ve also tried to explain healthy adult boundaries to her. She knows now if I’m away not to move anything or throw out anything that isn’t garbage. She has in the past gotten rid of clothing she thought was out of style or I’ve outgrown and given to charity.
I’m a little on the pack rat side. Still drives my mother nuts. She and my dad are the opposite.
My mother died of cancer in 1969 on November 30.
My father left California where we were living
and went back to Massachusetts right after her
funeral. My siblings took all my parents’ things,
and my oldest creepy brother took their house.
Never saw my father again. My sister said he had
died in 1985 and was buried in Massachusetts.
I got cut loose with nothing but my car and my
clothes to fend for myself. I was 23.
So of course, I got a job from my college major,
Chemistry, and got into the electronics industry,
where I met Bryan.
And, as they say, the rest is history. ;-)