My husband passed away at home Sunday, September 14, 2014 while I was at work. When I got home at about 11:00 p.m, I found him in our bedroom with all three dogs on the floor around the bed. I called 911 and sat on the bed and held his hand. After everyone had left (sheriff and coroner) at about 1 a.m. and they had taken his body away, I sat on the couch in shock. What was I going to do with the rest of my life? I of course didn’t know at that point, but I did know what I was going to do to get through the rest of that godawful night. I grabbed the box of trash bags and stood in front of the refrigerator and cleaned it out. My husband was a pack rat and a bit of a gourmand, especially when it came to cheeses. I threw away a lot of cheese, as well as other things like olives and cocktail party foods. Then I opened up the freezer and pitched every piece of mystery meat that was up there. I went to the cupboards next and threw away everything in there that I would never eat, sardines, old snacks, whatever. Before you say “Wait, you could have donated that food to a pantry”, no I couldn’t have. It was all expired (by a long way, I found canned goods in the back of a cupboard that were years out of date), and you have to remember, I was in shock. I was in a frenzy, I filled up bag after bag with food that would never be eaten. The only thing I could think of was that the garbage went out on Monday, and it was already here. I didn’t want that food in my house any longer than I could help it. That garbage can was full before I knew it.
That week I also had to have someone come and take away the mattress that he died on, there were bodily fluids on it. I threw away probably 30 bottles of cologne that literally had nothing in them except the tiny bit on the bottom that the atomizer can’t reach. I also disposed of his underwear and socks. I did keep some of his clothing, a shirt that he wore often, and a Notre Dame leather jacket that I had bought him just after we met.
I donated a lot of his clothes before the end of that year, for tax purposes.