Natasha Warner on Nostr: Spent part of the day trying to persuade my stepfather that he doesn't need to move ...

Spent part of the day trying to persuade my stepfather that he doesn't need to move every bit of detritus from his whole life to his room at the assisted living. It's hard enough getting rid of my mother's stuff (she died 6 years ago), it's harder trying to persuade a living elderly parent that he doesn't need to keep his 6th grade history report or all his non-working computers he used to play fun games on. I can imagine that for him it feels like his life won't have been meaningful if the mementos get disposed of. He's had his giant jar of pennies over at the assisted living for 4 months and hasn't tried sorting them even once. He's not going to actually do these things, but he can't admit that. In the meantime things at work feel very, very negative for the future, and the world is burning as is usual lately, with very direct impacts on some people I care about. I'm feeling pretty hopeless. Anybody got any tips for separating an elderly person from stuff? #eldercare