Dealing with complex grief (my parent) .
Very complicated situation as our relationship wasn’t straightforward in the first place - neglect - and situation that I’ve found myself in has brought up all sorts of emotions and memories .
At the moment I’m utterly surrounded by their belongings - boxes of them - and every step I make I’m reminded of them in some way . I desperately also need to downsize what I’ve kept - I’ve got a lot of junk that I really don’t need at all .
A friend has suggested I pop everything in a ‘memory box’ and over time I can slowly reduce it down and keep it closed, only open it when I want to or feel able to .
I remember my grandmother telling me she did the same thing when she lost her parents - kept all their belongings in a cupboard and left them for a few years .
Has anyone done this, does it work? Have seen it suggested for children/teenagers before but I’m an adult . I thought about also writing lists for myself of their favourite foods, films, music, toiletries, what we did together/laughed at … or a letter to myself or something .. just wondering if any ideas? (Or indeed where I could get a box from, it would need to be fairly sizeable)