An estate auction, a home for sale, and how memories make the best keepsakes...

A bittersweet milestone that happens to all of us. The time comes when we lose our parents, and must say goodbye -- not just to them, but to the collections of things they've acquired and the home they inhabited. For me, it's the turning point between my growing up and growing old. The past chapters of my life must now close... It's time to move on and write the rest of my life story. I must make new memories, and enjoy the new family to come.

My parents' house, represented by Kurfiss/Sotheby's International Realtors. The details on this listing can be found here. You can also download this brochure.

My parents' home has been on the market for a while now. It's a gorgeous house located in scenic Bucks County, PA, and overlooks the Delaware River. New Hope and Washington's Crossing are nearby. The main part of the house is nearly 200 years old, and it was the former summer home of Fred Astaire.

I didn't grow up there, but it always felt like home to me. So many special memories there ... including a Christmas Eve game of Scrabble with my mother, where she still had that magical twinkle in her eye even though she was ill.

The estate auction just went live yesterday, too, and it's filled to the brim with furniture, artwork, antiques, silver, and a lifetime of treasures. It runs through Aug. 16th.

My father left me a number of antique furniture pieces which I would have loved to have kept, but as I'm on the other side of the country, it just isn't practical to transport everything. I'm also still apartment-bound (SoCal real estate's pretty pricey, you know), and while house-hunting is on the horizon, I'm not quite ready to move yet.