SELLING THE FAMILY IBD

Sinopse

Selling the Family shares the reflections of a sole surviving family member as she sorts several generations of belongings for a final estate auction, a quintessential experience in rural America.The setting is a 33-acre property in southwestern Wisconsin, a forested coulee on the Mississippi River, but the story is reflective of any rural setting in the Upper Midwest.áNancy Kay Peterson recounts the deaths of her immediate family and watches an auctioneerâÇÖs staff organize the sale of what to the family were thoughtfully acquired possessions collected over several lifespans.áShe sees childhood treasures tossed together for bundled bids, her fatherâÇÖs WWII memorabilia appraised, gifts given laid out for re-sale, unsaleable household goods thrown into the trash.áAs the staff works, Nancy 'saves' what she can by giving items away to friends - 'grandmotherâÇÖs quilts and doilies, never used egg coddlers, silver appetizer forks, Norwegian sweaters.'áShe picks up useful items like poster putty, but also rescues the unnecessary -- her sisterâÇÖs small wooden puffin and her brother-in-lawâÇÖs Norwegian bottle opener.ááAs she watches the meaningful property in her relativesâÇÖ eyes being transformed into merchandise to be sold or simply trashed, Nancy relives the memories she will never again be able to share with someone else who remembers them, too.áJust before the auction, she strews the ashes of her sister and brother-in-law on the land they loved, and as she walks the property one last time, she examines the depth of her grief.While the story is melancholy, itâÇÖs telling is honest, rather than sentimental, cathartic, rather than debilitating, and ends, as it must, on a thin note of joy and gratitude for the love once shared.