Homebound during the pandemic led us to begin research on retirement communities where we might end up . . . in our minds, someday far in the future. We want to choose the community ourselves and avoid our children from having to face this emotional, stressful chore. Several months were spent visiting one or two communities a week. Soon we asked ourselves, what is it about our house that we would miss so terribly moving into a place we particularly liked. Stunned with our honesty, we said absolutely nothing except we are just not ready to move in yet. We want to travel. But that question planted a seed of thought. Why let the house simply sit empty and idle while we are traveling several months of the year? Plus we are sick of chores like cleaning gutters, painting, power-washing and fixing toilets that run — just to name a few. Since we know we will eventually move to a retirement community, why not sell the house now and rid ourselves of accumulated stuff now? We put the house on the market and it sold immediately.
Was it scary? Of course! Yes, ridiculously so! But as we grow nearer to last day in our house the anxiety is being replaced with a sense of well-being, happiness and exhaustion. Once we put our minds to it, we simply got busy. We built to-do lists and got busy.
For example:
Contract a liquidator to handle the estate sale
Make doctors appointment for med refills – All meds have to be taken with you when you travel. Prescriptions cannot be refilled out of the country.
Find a place to store the SUV
Sell Stan’s SL
Get tax records ready for 2022
Pack and store stuff
Firm up rental in Panama
Build a blog
Pass down Grandmother’s dinner bell to Latting family cousin
Break down a household and prepare for an estate sale
Believe me this is stressful. And it includes a lot of hard, tedious work. Every file, every box and bin, every cabinet and drawer, virtually everything has to be examined and the decision made . . . store, take with us or sell/trash.
Here’s the reward
We all know people who have told stories about finding cash, gold or jewelry stashed in books, files and boxes when they empty-out a loved one’s home. We have certainly not found any real valuables but we did have one pretty amazing find. Going through old photos, I found a box of slides. We have no slide projector so my first impulse was to trash them. After all we surely have not missed their content in all these years. But I took a look. Oh my God, they were photos from our honeymoon when Stan was 26 and I was 27. We were so young!!!
wow- beautfiul pictures- you have both been so instrumental in making our community what it is today- and we thank you
Glad that you are following your dream but WE MUST KEEP IN TOUCH
JoAnn,
This community is and always will be our “home.” When we moved here 20 years ago we had no idea how fortunate we were to have chosen our house. We had no idea we’d have such caring neighbors, several of whom like you, became dear close friends. Yes, you will be missed. We will miss our incredibly pleasant lives here, but off we go!
We will definitely stay in touch. Our very best wishes to you, Danbury and David for health and happiness!
Hugs to you!
Oh my goodness. You guys are so industrious. I bet it felt good to purge. You are happy people. Whatever happens you will be happy. Travel safely.
Becca!
What a demanding and emotional time! We we are slowly getting where we need to be though. The next few days are crunch time!!
Love and kisses to you and Jim!!!
I love your treasured find pictures! You both were so young and beautiful, the way you are today. I am sad that our friendship is so new, I wish I had know you both forever. So go, spread your wings and fly, you courageous wild and crazy kids! Thank you for your Blog, Janie so I can travel ;with you and live your best life with you! Hugs to you both, safe travels!
Oh, Betty, you know we feel the same about you! We will miss your stories, your tireless energy, and your great big heart but we will miss your friendship most of all. We will stay in touch! We love and admire you!
What a wonderful adventure! The slides of photos you found how precious they are! So happy you didn’t throw them away. Enjoy every moment of it and if you get to Switzerland please let me know. I’ve subscribed now. Enjoy life to the fullest!
What an awesome adventure! So happy you found the slides your photos are priceless! Enjoy it all and if you’re in Switzerland or Europe make sure to contact me. Live life to the fullest!
Barry, it’s so wonderful to hear from you! Thanks for your encouragement. We do think this will be the big adventure of our life time and we know we are blessed — or just plain lucky to have the mutual guts between us to take this on together! We will definitely return to Europe in the next couple of years. If we are ANYWHERE near Basel, we will look you up!