Today is the last day in our current home. In the morning
movers arrive to load our furnishings. We are leaving our large home of many
years on a small rural acreage and settling in a Fort Worth TX suburb. We planned and built this home to suit our needs, so I have mixed emotions about leaving. But I’m
excited about our future with all the conveniences a city has to offer and less responsibility for Hero.
Of course, we are sad to leave the great friends and neighbors we have
here. At the same time, we look forward to being close to friends in the city
and making new friends there. And we will be only a few blocks from all the
stores we could ever wish for, and close to doctors, hospitals, dentists, etc. No
one gets younger so those things matter.
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| Our next home What do you think - should the shutters be another color? |
Our lot there is long and filled with large trees and thick
grass. Actually, the back yard resembles a small park for us to enjoy through
the breakfast nook window as we eat our meals. We look forward to setting up
our birdbath and birdfeeders to add to the view.
This move has been pondered for months. Hero and I agree we
are doing the right thing for our future, and we agree that of all the homes we viewed, this house is the best one for us. When we entered this house, we each felt welcome and comfortable. The house has happy vibes. Our difficulty has been in
downsizing. Sure, it sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? How much room can two
people need? (Especially when one of them spends all her time in front of her
computer.)
When I say downsizing, I mean really, really less room. By a
lot. Sorting through our collection of junque and deciding what to keep and what
to toss, give away, and sell has created painful decisions. We have hundreds of
books and we’re moving to a house with no bookcases. Not even a little
one. Yes, we both have kindles, but
there are books we treasure and reread. Yes, we can build bookcases . . . somewhere, eventually.
The house to which we’re moving is—to quote realtor lingo—a “mid
20th century” home built in 1965.
No updates have been made except new carpet. I'm sure it's been painted, but needs it again inside. We will have only a few tiny
closets. The closet issue bothers us, but not the home’s age. After all, we’re
mid 20th century people. LOL
Back to the bittersweet part. Do you have things your kids made in school? Do you have things your mom saved that you made in school? Old report cards? Baptismal certificates? Things your parents and grandparents saved? We have all of that! Plus I’m the repository for our family photos and information. Yes, I have backup on my computer. That’s not like holding a 150 year old photo in your hands, though, is it?
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| One of my family photos, Mary Jane Clemmons |
So, we are bidding goodbye to many things we would prefer to
keep to make room for those we must preserve, like the photos. Seeing some of these discarded items drop into a trash or “sell” box is like slicing off a tiny piece of my heart. I’m
trying to toughen up and stop hoarding . . . I mean collecting . . . so many things.
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| Ceramic cherub made years ago by my friend who is now 105 years old --see? How could I not save this? |
Besides family photos, I collect a lot of “stuff.” Angels,
nativity sets, religious icons, crosses Darling Daughter 1 gives me, a
particular type of ceramic figure Darling Daughter 2 finds for me, art nouveau
and art deco items, and more. You see a pattern and a problem, don’t you?
Okay, maybe, just maybe, I don’t need spoons from every
place we’ve visited, and certainly not from every place my mom visited. Maybe I
don’t need those rocks my daughters painted when they were 5 and 7. And all
those prints I’ve bought while traveling when we have no more wall space to
display them? But I loved Monticello and Mount Vernon . . . okay, selling
those prints. And how many teapots does one couple really need? We use the same one every morning.
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| Monticello from Wikipedia, because my print is packed away. |
Now, if you were to visit our home, you’d wonder if we’d
ever thrown or given away anything. Trust me, we have.
But, we’ll be having a giant moving sale about October. I promise I won’t
bring any of my own stuff back into the house. Probably.
Thanks for stopping by!
