D is for Downsizing

 

 

 

 

 

 

In  2015 I am going to move from the five-bedroom house I've lived in for over 40 years to a high rise apartment.  Why 2015?  Because that's when the apartment building will be finished.   Meanwhile, I'm downsizing.  My goal is to donate, recycle, pitch at least one item plus one book plus one file folder every day.  In 730 days I should be done...or close to it.  

Know what?  I'm enjoying the process.  I've come upon books I haven't read in years and don't expect to pick up again and I've found some books I love.  Every week I lug a bag of books I won't read again to Half Price Books.  So far, I've made $108.  I've donated clothes that have been occupying my closet for so long I must have worn them when we first moved here, kitchen items that I'll no longer need, files of websites that are no longer on the web, first lines for stories I never got around to writing....etc.  I've enjoyed slowly looking back over my life, reliving days gone by.

 

But what about the things I can't part with?  I've found lots of those, too.  The dress I was wearing the night I met my husband (yes, I kept it).  My son's comfort toy when he was a toddler.  Photos from the cruise my husband and I took to Antarctica.  My family history in hats--one from each generation from my grandmother to my granddaughter.  Refrigerator magnets from all over.  My husband's old brown bathrobe that I curl up in on cold nights.

 What will I keep?  What will I let go?  I read an article in Parade Magazine a few months ago in which the author listed 5 things she'd take with her if she ever had to flee her home.  I've thought about this as I comb through drawers and closets.  In two years I'll have to make a final choice.

What about you?  What would you take?  What will you keep only in memory?

 

 

 

 

 

My newly released memoir.  Check it out on Amazon.