My children's belongings

Experience has taught me to wait at least a year before parting with anything.
In my daughter's case I had two weeks to clean out her dorm room and in my son's case I had 10 days to clean out his apartment. 
The first week was spent in such raw pain and the feeling of walking in quick sand the only thing I could do was make funeral arrangements between meltdowns. My children's belongings were the last thing on my mind until I heard from the college and the apartment complex respectively.
While they were very kind they still had their rules. 
Subtract the first week from the dorm's 14 days. That left 7. Subtract the first week from the apartment complex's 10 days. That left 3. 7 days may seem like plenty of time to clean out a dorm room but not when you calculate the distance from Honolulu to home, dealing with two funeral homes, one there, one at home plus Christmas and New Year's thrown into the mix. 
In both instances I had to make rapid decisions that I'm regretting. If you're in a situation like mine make sure you take someone along with a clear head. But the clear head must have your best interests at heart. 
In my daughter's case I gave things away randomly to her friends on her floor. I don't remember going through a pile of clothes on her couch. In my haste I gave them all away. If my clear head who was along had had my best interests at heart that never would have happened. Luckily I did go through her drawers and closet. I found Christmas gifts she had bought before her trip and keepsakes that I have and cherish. But I'm missing her artwork. She was talented with a charcoal pencil and had done two beautiful drawings that are still missing, ten years later. I've asked everyone who knew her well if they'd seen them. They hadn't. Those drawings haunt me to this day. Were they in the pile of clothes on the couch? I'll never know. There were beautiful little hand made memorials that the girls on her floor left on her door or outside her room. I took them home but my clear head threw them out. I was hurt and angry over that. Be sure you are in charge and I can't stress enough that your clear headed companion has to have your needs foremost in their minds.

Cleaning out my son's apartment went more smoothly because of the experience I had with my daughter's things. 
I remembered I was in charge. That's hard to keep in mind when you're in a fog of loss and pain. And I had a good, kind clear head with me. All small items were boxed up to be gone through later. He lived across the country from me. I made a return trip a month later. His things are safely stored in Jessica's garage. I brought back as much as our suitcases would allow.  The large items were given away or donated and I have few regrets over those. I couldn't keep everything and for the most part accepted that. 

A memory that's still so vivid in both my children's homes is I felt like I never wanted to leave. I felt I needed to touch and smell everything yet contrastingly felt the need to flee. I was caught in the time warp of waiting for them to come home and realizing they never would.