only house on the lagoon

it's one thing to watch hoarders on tv and it's another to actually experiencing seeing it in real life.  aaron's job was to go through paperwork in the office and mine was aunt lil's bedroom.  going through the clothes in the bedroom wasn't too bad - until i got around one corner of the bed and the magazines and newspapers that i was picking up was a little damp.  this is when i needed a break as i was coughing (from the dust) and gagging (from the smell).  one thing i found that was really neat was aunt lil's diary.  i scanned through the pages and couldn't wait to read about what her life was like back in 1943-1944.

when i was cleaning aunt lil's room and going through her stuff, i thought of how sad it was to have lived like this.  i thought "did she feel ashamed living like this?"  "what was it in her life that triggered the hoarding?"  "has she always been a hoarder?"  of course no one could give me those answers. 

back to the diary - aunt lil was 25 years old in 1943 and was a WAVE (women accepted for volunteer emergency service) in the navy.  there was about 15 entries spanning about 8 months - how i wish there were more so i could read what her life was like back then.  in one of the entries, she described how ed (her future husband) made her feel like gold and everytime he's around, everything was brighter.  uncle ed passed away about 5-6 years ago and aunt lil passed away on easter, 4/24/11.  i know that their spirits are out in the water sailing as this is what they loved to do. 

before - aunt lil's bedroom

after - all those bags that are in the back are garbage that we bagged and waiting to be tossed

before - the office

it doesn't look like aaron did anything to the office, but he cleared all the file cabinets and had to painstakingly go through all the paperwork to make sure he didn't toss out anything important

aunt lil's bedroom view - only house on the lagoon