Downsizing

I'm thinking about moving and downsizing, and with it, getting rid of the accumulation of 60+ years. As I've mentioned, I was treated for cancer in the past couple of years. It has a chance of recurring, so it seems like a good time to downsize and go through that accumulation so no one else has to — just in case.

A notable portion of the potentially downsized stuff came from my parents, some from my grandparents, and a bit from earlier generations. Daughter Number Three-Point-One, now getting to the low end of what is considered middle-aged, has her own dishes and furniture at this point, and — like many younger Millennials — is less inclined toward clutter in the first place. Some of her cousins are absolute minimalists. 

Does she need or want teapots I remember from one grandmother's house, or a wooden clown doll from the other grandmother's childhood? What about photo albums full of pictures my dad compiled but never labeled well, depicting his and my mother's progenitors? If I don't know who the people shown are, how is she supposed to?

What are we to do with these objects that store memories? Whose memories are they, or will they become in the future? 

How many generations can one person preserve, if any single person can only personally remember two generations-worth of people? 

My grandparents are significant to me, but my daughter doesn't remember meeting any of them. My own great-grandparents have come to feel significant to me through research, but compared to the people I personally knew, it's not the same. It's like reading a history book instead of living through an event.

I've never understood the idea of ancestor worship*, but I'm beginning to think ancestor veneration is something we could use in this country as a way to better sustain the memories of previous generations. Maybe I can preserve a few items, one or two items per person, to pass to her within a modern-day altar of the ancestors. 

I'll think about that while I'm winnowing the stuff of years that's stored in my home.

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* I'm not sure "worship" of ancestors is what is actually practiced in cultures the West represents as doing that. Ancestor veneration may be a better term for it, which seems to me a meaningful difference from worship. 

Worship is inherently religious and implies devotion, as in bowing down to, lowering oneself, and even obedience in some sense. Veneration means regarding with reverence, to regard as worthy of great honor. It's a version of respect.