Matt Bills had been toying with a business idea for a few weeks, but he kept being interrupted by his household chore. His job was to clear an entire room of boxes containing all his wife’s grandmother’s belongings, accumulated before she moved out of the house Bills and his wife now occupied. The boxes were stacked literally to the ceiling, full of everything from dishes and old clothing to childhood keepsakes. They were covered in dust and what appeared to be loose papers.
After emptying half the room, Bills made a startling discovery.
“Then I’m realizing as I’m cleaning,” he said, “I’m not just stepping on random things, I’m stepping on love letters between her and her husband and film from the 1940s, the only images of those family members — the stuff people cry about when it’s lost.” More.