Coincidence?

I've been trying to do a bit of decluttering recently. Partly because it needed doing -- our quarts of junk just don't fit into our pint-pot house -- and partly because I'm trying to clear the decks before the baby arrives.



Obviously, being me, decluttering involves creating a lot more mess than was originally apparent. Clothes are heaped everywhere, piles of books teeter, and random flotsam and jetsam awaits being trodden underfoot and broken so that I can finally justify chucking it away.



Actually, we're on the upward curve now. I must be really desperate, because this time round I've actually got rid of some books. Lots have been listed on ReadItSwapIt (UK readers: you really should check it out!) and ebay; lots have gone to the charity shop; and, sob, all my French and Italian books have been boxed up and await being lugged up to the loft. I really should just accept that I am never, ever going to read them again.



Today's step is decluttering the photos, and going through all those endless wallets of pictures that were never put in albums. I came across one labelled 'duplicates', and decided to pass them on to Gregoria and Victor, who both have albums that they are clamouring to fill.



There were lots of pictures of a newborn Victor, but nestled among them I was surprised and delighted to find a postcard from Mark's mother addressed to Gregoria. Granny died when Gregoria was two, and is very much missed, four and a half years later. There was a sweet note to Gregoria saying how much she had enjoyed looking after her that week and looking forward to doing it again.



I was especially touched when I realised that this postcard had emerged, after all these years, on the feast of St Joachim and St Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the patron saints of grandparents. When I turned the postcard over, I was overwhelmed.

(Image of St Anne teaching Our Lady to read, from Quimper, France.)