Ann says:
Moving and downsizing is a good thing overall but hard to get in gear to do. The process has many blocks for me. Most, like inertia and always finding more interesting things to do are easy to overcome.
Yes, indeed. At the very thought of getting started on a down-sizing project, my mind leaps to many far more attractive ways to pass the time.
The process of moving has a death and resurrection sense about it but it is also like waiting for a birth. We are in the “soon but not yet” phase of leaving our life in Wyoming.
Or is moving/downsizing more like this?
Perhaps it is most like Advent, a time of waiting. The old things that made our life are ending – the new has only made its presence felt with a few light kicks.
Ann's is a fine essay, which should really be read in its entirety.
I found Ann's essay timely for me, as we are planning to make a big move during the next year. I printed it to read anytime I get discouraged by the amount of work moving will take this time.
ReplyDeleteLaurelew, it's been 26 years since we moved, and when we move is the only time we really clean out. We started out our lives together with all our belongings fitting in a 1961 Ford Falcon. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your move.
I have you all beat. Last May I moved from the home I'd had for 52 years - the only home I'd ever known. For me, moving was more like a death. Everything I turned lose of was a link to someone no longer present. I wish you both blessings for the time you'll be downsizing.
ReplyDeleteIn 1966 we went to Minneapolis with everything in our VW beetle! Including the cat.
ReplyDeleteI'll do you a swap.
ReplyDeleteThis was brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI have periodic times of down-sizing, and letting go is always more liberating than it seems when you start the sorting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I retire in 7 years (if I live that long!) I shall be moving from a 4-bedroomed house to one that the Church Commissioners think in their wisdom is suitable for a single cleric. There is no way I will be able to take it all, so a slow and gradual process starting now seems the right approach.
And strangely, though I enjoy the space at present, I'm quite looking forward to it!
So Themethat and I aren't the only ones to be having this debate - I'm also trying to persuade him of all the reasons why we should move to a smaller, one storey dwelling. His arguement - "and where would we put all these books? Fair comment.
ReplyDeleteIt's so wonderful to know what a common "disease" this is!
ReplyDeleteI am renovating to put my place on the market, so I can distract myself with making the place "perfect" when I should be sorting and purging. And of course, I have marvelous storage containers to make everything easier...stacked up unused, or filled with things that must be moved away from workers pronto.
Anyone else out there crying about purging books? Everyone that a friend or neighbor wants, fine. But the rest...it doesn't matter sometimes that it's a best-seller that isn't a treasure. Sigh.
And thanks for the vent!
14 years ago I and my bride left a 5 bedroom, 2 story plus full basement and full walk-around attic to start our adjustment to mobile home living in Texas. The first step was into a 25 foot Class C motor home for three months while I finished my employment to retirement time. Our children were given fist choice of any items, then one huge pile went to the auction house, another (larger) to the Salvation Army. At the end of three months a 14 X 70 foot mobile home looked spacious to this couple and our two cats. Since that date we have adopted a very simple policy on additions to our household. If an item comes in the front door...and equally sized item must leave by the back door.
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