Things have life..a piece of the puzzle

I have spend the last 20 years trying to put the pieces of my childhood together in some way so that it all makes sense.  I have circled around another piece of the puzzle for the last few months.  My mother always said, "Things have life."  She said this many times, but I remember it most in reference to a coin that came from her father who died when she was in her early twenties.  My mother is hoarder of sorts.  She just manages it better than most people with that illness.  She gives much of it away, but she keeps adding to her pile.  As I have mentioned before, she refers to me as a minimalist and not as a term of endearment.  So do things have life.  I do not believe so.  Things have memories and are reminders, but they do not have life.  People do.  My mother never took vacations.  She blamed it on my dad, but she was the real reason.  She never did much other than work and do yard work and clean and shop.  She was the reason for that too.  I live my life.  Maybe I do not live it to the fullest that I could, but I am working on that.  The reason I dislike being around her so much is because she sucks the life out of everything.  Her view of what has life is skewed.  Things do not live.  They only "live" through the memories and reminders we give them and frankly, some memories are not good and do not need to be remembered.  It is no wonder that my mother dressed me up like a doll until I was 10.  She wanted me to be a thing, something to manage, but she did not want me to live a life.  The honest truth is that I can never forgive her for that.  She took so much from me in doing that.  So much.  Yes, it all turned out just fine for me.  I have a great life, but I would have had a much more fulfilling life as a young adult when I was unattached to children and work.  I have a woman with whom I work who is from Japan and I admire her so much.  She left everything in Japan and came here at the age of 20 and made a life for herself here.  How brave!  I often wonder what her parents did to make her so brave and so not afraid to really live life at that age.  That is something back then that I would never have had the courage to do.
So what do I do now with this next piece of the puzzle and how many more pieces are left?  I would like to say that this piece will help me let go of more of my fear of living life.  I honestly hope that is the case.  I want to accomplish more and really become the person I dream of being.  I want to do more and worry less. 
How many more pieces are left, indeed!