When their mother died , it took Mark and Laura a week just to sift through four rows of boxes in the garage. Patricia had kept 65 years worth of letters, receipts, tax returns, warranties, report cards , Valentine, birthday and Mother’s day cards.

One shoebox, tucked inside a carton filled with linen she had never unpacked from her last move, overflowed with envelopes addressed to their mother in old-fashioned script on parchment stationery. The letters bore an unfamiliar address.

Mark wanted to read them. Laura, sensing the letters might be personal, said, “No, Mom was entitled to her privacy. If she had wanted to share them, she would have done so.”

Mark saved the shoebox, planning to sift through the letters another time. That time came six months later when they were vacationing with their families at the house on the lake they had inherited from Patricia. Everyone went fishing and Mark was alone. He pulled the box out from his suitcase. and read each letter, reinserting it into its envelope when he finished it.

Mark was stunned. His mother had loved his father’s brother for forty years. Ashamed of reading the letters when he had agreed not to, Mark decided not to share what he had learned with Laura. It was his turn to bear the burden of his mother’s secret.

How would you feel if your children found your shoebox? Sort through your papers while you still can.

Tags: after Mom's death, family, love, mom's hoarding, right to privacy, secrets