Beautifully written, Deb. Your love for your mom shines through. My mother doesn't like throwing anything away. I can't even think about going through all of her stuff when she's gone. When she told me she was leaving all of her belly dancing costumes to me, I asked why the heck she would do that. Her answer: "Because they are worth a lot of money." I told her she should sell them and enjoy the money herself now. She talks about financial struggles, so this makes no sense to me. She's married to her sixth husband now. Maybe he can talk some sense into her. I doubt it, though. 🙄