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It is two months now since I began living with my son, in the residence he had recently purchased for himself and his teenage daughter. After having most of my belongings in storage for several months, it has been a welcome experience to unpack my old familiar things and be able to have a sprinkling of my own furniture around the house.
The biggest challenge has been to “blend” our two households together. Thankfully my son has a wonderful attitude towards this and we have been able to consider items one by one and make decisions about them. Usually it transpires that one of us has a particular love for an item so that becomes the one that is kept. Sometimes the decision is made because one thing is a better quality than the other one is. And occasionally we just keep our own things for ourselves, such as bathroom towels.
The trouble arises when we both love the same item! For instance, I am very attached to my metal
colander as it was with me faithfully throughout my 45 years of marriage. Son is equally attached to his plastic
colander and really does not like my metal one.
Now, no kitchen needs two colanders.
But we arrived at a solution – his colander remains in the kitchen and
my colander has disappeared into the large drawer we now have for “mum’s stuff”
that I want to keep. This includes
things that son never uses, such as my mint mouli and apple corer. As we both share cooking duties, it is good
if we both have access to equipment we like to use.
I imagine blending households is always an issue when two
folk join together after living separate lives.
At least I can be glad I do not have to face the question of “shall we
live in my house or yours?”
The weather here today is atrocious. Strong gale-force winds and heavy rain overnight
and into today, part of a sub-tropical low that is making its way down the
country. I think I will stay home and
put my shopping off until tomorrow!
Keep a smile on your face,
Margaret
You did well to work out such a difficult job like you did. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThankyou.
DeleteI remember doing much the same when Mother came to live with me 27 years ago. We didn't have a separate drawer though as I do the cooking. But I have to say that in 27 years together we have never had a disagreement - good going don't you think?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely good going, you are both to be congratulated on that. I think the clue for us will be to always be open and honest with each other and also to have a few set house rules so we can give each other space when we need it.
DeleteIt was the same when mum moved in with my sister, luckly my sister wanted to keep loads of things which came from our family home, so many memories. Mum loved sharing house with my sister, it was a perfect solution, I lived away from them and mum wanted to stay close to her friends, I would have loved to have her with us.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel because I would have loved my mum to have stayed with me as well. She always resisted the idea and remained living independently until she passed on.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you two are going to get along great together. I hope it always goes smoothly.
ReplyDelete