Thursday, April 14, 2011

You found WHAT? Cover your eyes if easily offended! I'm serious.

" You must see some interesting things in your line of work" an inquisitive auction customer says to me.  Indeed I do.  Sometimes I see things I don't WANT to see.

I can tell an awful lot about a person when I enter a house and sift through their belongings.  I get to view it all...especially when the seller is deceased  and we are told to go through EVERYTHING in order to properly inventory and assess value.  So I offer a caveat for the living.  If you got something you don't want anyone to find, you'd better bury it in the yard because if an executor sends our firm to handle the disposition of a deceased individual's assets....I'm going to find everything that person never wanted anyone to find.  Ask me...I'll tell you stories of things pulled from dark corners of closets that we didn't have the heart to turn over to any family member.  Lets just say there'd be a great deal of awkwardness.

I realize that nobody knows when they will get "sent for."  By the time the end is near, most people aren't very mobile so most often family and friends end up taking care of little things like bringing clean clothing and making sure the cat is fed.  It isn't often that someone's dying aunt pulls a family member over and whispers that they need to go to her house and get rid of that crumpled bag in the old luggage in the bedroom closet because it contains...well...a few potentially embarrassing things.  A riding crop and a leather mask.... maybe?  Something else?

It doesn't happen like that.

Nobody says anything about it.  Invariably, we find it...after the fact.

I wasn't surprised to find out that most people...old and young have dirty little secrets.  We're all a little debauched now and then...C'est normal.  Charity workers, dedicated parents, business leaders...everyone.  Believe me, I know.

So the next time you reach into the deep recesses of some drawer or behind the shelf unit in the den or even into the little cedar box that you hide in the rafters above the ceiling tiles....remember that someone, someday, will likely find whatever it is you are reaching for if you happen to leave this world without it.  It might be someone like me, which would be good since part of my job description involves being sensitive to the bereaved.  I'll make sure nobody cries more than they have to.  Promise.

Just something to think about......

No matter how well you think it might be hidden....think again.

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