What Do I Do With All Their Things? An Honest, Compassionate Guide to Sorting a Parent’s Belongings After Loss

After a parent dies, an ordinary house can become a landscape of impossible choices: the coat by the door, a drawer of recipes, boxes no one has opened in years. Keep, Carry, Release accompanies adult children through this often-overlooked part of loss. A gentle narrative moves room by room, while practical guidance helps readers decide what to keep, share, photograph, donate, sell, or postpone. The book offers object-biography prompts, a simple pause-box system, scripts for difficult sibling conversations, and respectful approaches to letters, clothing, collections, digital files, and unfinished projects. It also addresses deadlines, distance, unequal labor, and the fear that letting go of an object means letting go of the person. Rather than prescribing a perfect timeline or minimalist outcome, the guide helps readers create a manageable process and preserve selected stories in forms their families can carry forward.