Wouldn't want to break up a set!

Before I go any further, I should explain the name of this blog. It all stems from a family joke. My Grandma Flo was a true hoarder (a very organized one I must admit). On the surface, everything seemed fairly normal. However, if you were paying attention, the signs were everywhere. I remember when we were children my grandma went out of town for a few days, that's when my mother and aunt took us (myself, sister and cousins) to grandmas place to give it a good clean out. When we looked under the bed, we found every phone book grandmas must have owned over her entire life span. It was like stepping into a time machine. We sat there for hours dragging them out and saying "look at this one." The pictures on the front were fascinating to us, mostly old cars if I remember correctly. Well, when grandma got home she was furious, I wasn't there for the argument, but supposedly she threatened to cut us all out of the will (again). I don't blame her really, if someone came into my home and threw out a bunch of my stuff (no matter how invaluable they assumed it to be), I would be furious as well.

Grandma passed away in 2010. For about a week after her death, our family would go to the funeral home during the day and at night we would gather at her house to share memories, laugh, cry, drink and begin to sort through her belongings. Sorting through her things so soon may seem harsh but with everyone coming from all over the country and having to return to work, things needed to be done right away.  The rummaging began, and items were separated by their future fate; trash, donate or keep. One night the drinks were flowing, and things got out of hand, first they came across a bra and underwear set in a clear plastic bag with a note that read if I die, bury me in these. Unfortunately, it was too late; we had put her in the ground that morning. We couldn't help but laugh. Grandmas carefully selected burial undergarments were stored in her home in Gander, and she had died at her summer home in Twillingate.  The next thing I remember being brough out of the bedroom was a urine container containing the kidney stones she had passed over the years with notes she had jotted on the side of the container. Well, things degenerated from there and by the end of the night we were all dressed in her clothes, hats (she loved hats), sunglasses and jewelry to boot, even the men of my family were dressed to the nines. My mom tells me I'm not allowed to show the pictures to anyone ever because of how it might look. But I think it looks like we were celebrating the life of a woman we all loved. Towards the end of the night, one of my uncles came up from the basement with a recycling bag full of empty margarine containers and proclaimed "and to my youngest son Brook, I leave my collections of margarine containers"  and he passed the bag to my Uncle Brook.  We all roared laughing, and I believe that's where the joke "I wouldn't want to break up a set" started. They also offered him a few bags of styrofoam meat trays grandmas had religiously washed and stacked in her basement.

Earlier this week I was scrolling through the Facebook newsfeed on my phone when I  noticed my uncle had posted a picture, the picture I've included in this post, and his comment below read "Wouldn't want to break up a set. Lol". I couldn't help but start laughing. Chris even asked me what I was laughing at, but I couldn't explain at the time, I just kept laughing. Maybe you had to know her or someone like her to find it all so hilarious or maybe you have to be like her, and that's why I find it so funny. When I decided I wanted to blog about this experience, I knew immediately what I wanted to name the blog breaking up the set because that's what I aim to do.