It's made up of bits and pieces from news stories written across the years about Pons. She apparently knew everyone in the entertainment world and beyond. Her Dallas home was filled with great works of art and cultured friends.
This is the bit that jumped out at me:
SEPTEMBER 1985“In her day, Pons had been a major international celebrity. She ate barbecue with Dwight Eisenhower in the White House. She was presented the French Legion of Honor by Charles de Gaulle. When she died, mementos of her glamorous life were disposed of in a giant estate sale that was open to the public. A picture of her partying with actor Humphrey Bogart went for 50 cents. Chatty letters from Princess Grace and Prince Rainier went for $5, as did a personal note from Princess Elizabeth thanking Pons for a wedding present.” — The Dallas Morning News
I don't know if she died surround by loved ones and friends. But, it does look as if no one claimed her stuff. Was her stuff important to her? She held onto it until the end. Maybe she had it tucked away and never thought about it. She did keep it though. It was, in some sort of fashion, still in her possession.
And, she didn't take it with her.
No matter how much you have of anything (insert what you wish here), when you die, it doesn't go with you.
And, collecting and keeping doesn't hold you here.
You still go.
I've been thinking a lot lately about not wanting to burden my children with stuff they have to get rid of when I die. I want to pare down what I have to be only things I absolutely love and/or use. If I can combine them be things I love and use, then great!
Lily Pons might have done all that before she died and the stuff in the little blurb might have been all that was left. If so, bully for her.
Or, whatever the French equivalent is for "bully for her."
1 comment:
Wow, really puts things into perspective. I think living between 2 continents has really helped me to not hold onto physical belongings. It's crazy, though, how easily that can happen.
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