And in the process she came to the following conclusion: “Earlier I’d resolved to clear out my own mess,… so my children wouldn’t have to face it, but since then I’ve had a change of heart. Then she spent two years writing her book. In that time she had the help of many friends and her three brothers, but she was the one who took fastidious note of what had been left behind.

Plum lived in the big house for 16 months before it was taken over by new buyers who were deemed worthy. And what they left behind not only tells their story, but the story of the generations before them. Her father died three years earlier, and her mother had no interest in going through her husband’s “stuff” thus it is left up to the four remaining siblings to sift through the lifetime of their parents and what they left behind. The author of the book, Plum, is tasked with sorting out the house her mother leaves behind when she dies. After reading this book though, I think leaving a trail behind for my children may lead them to make some discoveries of their own. It may be ordained somewhere by someone, but we are not let in on the secret. I have often said that I must clean up my house and particularly my bedroom before I deign to breath my last breathe, but no one knows more clearly than I that we do not generally choose our death or where we die. To say that her parents were hoarders would not be fair, but to put it in some perspective for you-they had 4000 square feet of home and it was jam packed with family history, antiques, historical papers, the detritus of everyday life, and yes, some junk.

The “mess” is in the form of a large house much loved by all who resided there and the things left behind by the death of her parents. Throughout the book, the author comes to understand the roots of her discord, and begins to appreciate the people who left behind what she calls the “mess”. The book begins on a bit of a discordant note, but anyone who is part of a family will connect to it-we have all been there-some of us will recognize the dissonance immediately and relate some of us, luckily, may not.

I do not usually make such sweeping statements, but after reading this book I am convinced that everyone would not only benefit from Plum’s wisdom, but enjoy how she delivers it. “I used to think parents should clean up their own mess before they depart this world now I think just the opposite.” These are the words of Plum Johnson, an award winning Canadian author who wrote a book called “They Left us Everything”.

They left us everything