Getting Here - Part 1 - The House

As much as this new life seems like a quick change in our life - it has been a long time coming.  One that needs a little more attention than just one blog.  The first step was the House.  We have been married for 33 years and been in the same house for 26 of them.  A large house with 2 pack rats and "memory keepers" makes for a difficult task to downsize.  Cliff retired in January of 2012 and took on the full time job of figuring what our future needs would be and to start the process of finding homes for all of our "stuff".  He knew, as sentimental as I was, that this would not be easy.  The first step was finding out what the kids wanted.  It is a lot for a parent to ask their children to "choose now anything from our home that will be meaningful to you down the road."  Fortunately, our daughter and her husband and our son and his soon to be wife understood the importance of the "stuff" we had.  They came home in April and chose what they wanted.  What an amazing, beautiful experience it was to watch them be aware of each other's feelings and our emotions and choose those things that they knew were important.  From things Cliff or either of our Dad's made, to silly little mementos, to "Bucky" Cliff's prize deer head and to some surprises that they may find in boxes they open in the future - everything important found a home, much of it stored at Cliff's wonderful Mom's house until the kids have the space for it.  Then came Craig's List and E-Bay.  Our house became a revolving door of people coming to buy almost anything and Cliff was on a first name basis with everyone at the post office.  It wasn't the money that mattered to us, it was the fact that we weren't throwing away our "stuff" but repurposing it thru other people.  Next were the garage sales - 3 of them, which were great successes highlighted by people "falling in love" with something and taking it home with them.  By the third one, people were just coming back to say goodbye and good luck, because they knew we were about to be on our way.  We figured out what was "RV worthy", gave some items to treasured friends and charity and digitized everything we could.  And probably most importantly, came the house.  After a very slow start, we decided that we needed to get on the road and leave it behind in the hands of our Real Estate Agent.  Within days of that decision we had an offer from someone who was ready to move in almost immediately.  Which gave us that final push to clean out and make our move.  The final two weeks were frantic, but somehow, with the help of very dear friends everything was gone - or in the hands of the best neighbors and friends anyone could ask for, to be taken care of after we left.  Our van was sold the Wednesday before we left - to a woman who was taking it to Nigeria (yes, seriously, Nigeria).  On Friday night we had an impromptu party out on the street corner with friends and neighbors on our couch that we had put out with a "free" sign on it.  And as a final gift - on Saturday morning we looked out only to find someone taking the couch too.  And with that - it was all gone.  I sit here now and look around our tiny house and realize what is really important. As much as I love my "stuff" I am ok with leaving it in the hands of others.   Through modern technology I can stay in touch with the kids, Cliff's Mom, family and friends.  I have what is important to me right here - I have the memories, the love and the hope of an incredible new adventure in front of me. What more do I need?