After my father had been alone in his house in Calabasas for about a decade, he decided to sell.

It was a strange experience trying to help him, because he didn’t seem to have any attachment to most of the things he owned. In the midst of looking up places to sell a beautiful, long serving table and the family’s small upright piano, I’d call him with my progress and he’d say, “Oh, I gave the piano away, darling.” “Oh, I gave the serving table to so and so.”

I helped him clear out the junk and ...