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Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Clearing out Dad’s room at Sunnyvale Nursing Home, I found the old suitcase.
‘Mum used to bag these for doorstop collection and he’d go search the Charity Shops to buy them back.’ I said my voice cracking.
Mark embraced me carefully, resting his head against my shoulder.
‘We can keep them.’ he said.
I squeezed his hand gratefully.
Back home Mark dragged mum’s old bookcase in from the garage and carefully displayed every last item.
‘Thought it would be nice to have them together again.’ he smiled.
‘ I bet mum’s wishing for a charity bag right now!’ I giggled.
100 words
awritersfountain 
That would cause a scream 😆
I think this story is sweet.
Thanks – it was nothing like the original plan – but that was 3x too long!
LOL Yeah, they get like that 🙂
Very sweet indeed.
Thanks Tom. I think Mark knows what it is to love someone.
That’s a touching tale 🙂
Thanks for the read and comment Helen. Appreciated.
Perfectly told.
Thanks Kim – it was baked a few times – glad it came out okay in the end!
Very touching 🙂
Thanks. Glad the read worked for you.
Lovely Neens, I relate to the idea of cleaning out the room at the nursing home.
Thanks, sadly it is something many of us can relate to, that strange in between stage where nothing at all seems real.
Sweet story 🙂 made me smile
Thanks kz, glad you smiled 🙂
I like the feel to this story. It connects with our need to keep a part of our shared memory with loved ones.
Thanks Charles. I held onto a dusty bouquet of fake purple flowers that my Grandpa gave me when I was 8, 3 years before he died. It was only in recent years when my mum helped me move house that she came across it in its faded wicker basket and asked what it was and why on earth I still had it.
I couldn’t believe she didn’t remember me even having it as a kid. It was on my bedroom windowsill for a decade!
She explained to a 30 something me that we didn’t need to keep hold of the actual object if we no longer loved it or wanted it. That the memory of that person was attached to our heart and not the object itself.
I threw it away. I doubt Grandpa would have minded and I know if he were still alive it wouldn’t have been kept for all those years.
I suppose a little of this experience is mixed into the story somewhere.
Dear Neens,
What a sweet and special story. i love the play of love and tender emotion between the two of them. Very well done.
Aloha,
Doug
Thanks Doug, the characters evolved the more re-writes and edits I achieved! 😉 Glad you liked it.
Dear Neens,
A poignant story well told.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle, there were so many objects I could have written about – can’t wait to start reading this week’s flashes!
An interesting prompt for us this week, thanks.
A very authentic piece of writing, darling. I could definitely relate.
Thanks Helena, it is something many of us can relate to on some level of the story. Thanks for commenting.
Very sweet. 😀
Thanks Linda.
Hello Neens, a poignant story delicately and skillfully told. Well done. 🙂
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the telling.
The old treasures and trash story. Mark is a very sweet and considerate man. She’d better hang onto him. Very well told.
Exactly. He loves her, I don’t think she would want to lose him as well as her parents.
Sweet story – and so close to the truth. One man’s treasure…
… exactly. Must have meant a lot to him as well to have kept it in the home all these years. People take hardly any possessions to these places it seems.
A sweet tale. It’s lovely that dad kept all the treasures safe and also that Mark has sorted out a display on mum’s old bookcase!
Thanks, it started life as almost the polar opposite of sweet but after some heavy rewrites and edits this is the tale that evolved.
Dear Neens
Seems we were on the same wavelength this week. This is a lovey story, well written and one I think that becomes true for so many old people. Well done
Dee
Thanks Dee. As I have said the initial concept was slightly different, but I’m happy with the end result.
I have known relatives who moved to nursing homes and it always amazed me how they managed from a whole house to one room. Often by this stage I suppose it isn’t them who makes the decision on what to take.
Sweet story.
Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked it.
Lovely!
Thanks Dawn.
A great story… love what you did… and a great rememberance to parents.
Thanks Bjorn, glad you liked the idea.
You moved me from sadness at the onset to happy at the end. 🙂
Tad behind on my return visits… Thank you for yours.
You remind me I have too much stuff. That which was important …seems less so. That which was important to someone else – I have much of that too. This reminds me most of the boxes of photographs that will never be identified, but we hate to toss any because they were important to our loved ones and could very well be our loved ones …if we only knew.
Very nice. I tend to get second hand clothes, but the catch is I donate to the place that I don’t buy from 🙂 And while I try (as it doesn’t always work) for every one new (used) thing in two things have to go…
Wow that’s disciplined – a rule my mum has tried to instil into me – 1 new thing = 2 old things. I donate a lot to charity, some I am embarrassed to say has the store tags still on, never worn. Moving house has forced me to realise how much ‘treasure’ I actually have – the good thing is I can see now how it is expensive rubbish and I just paid hundreds of pounds to removals to keep it all. I don’t need it, I have reached the point I don’t even want it – but that’s one of the trials of being a writer and a teacher -many files and lots of paperwork!
I am taking small steps. I have already given treasure out and then regretted it.
The photo from this prompt was Rochelle’s and I think this is her collection. I like the way it is arranged. If I could do that with my treasure it would make sense, most of it is stuffed into boxes or backs of cupboards!
Thanks for the read.