Weβre getting close!
Despite all our work so far, many moving tasks still lie ahead as my partner and I prepare for our transition to an independent living apartment.
Change of address notification to friends, organizations and businesses must be written and sent. What to do about all the periodicals we get? I have made a decision to stop the medical journals I still subscribe to. Why? Because medical science is continuing to make new and wonderful advances that I appreciate, but I can no longer can follow the science. However, I cannot do without my favorite magazines and newspapers including the one you are reading now β¦ long may the Star grace my breakfast table.
Photographs must still be taken of some memorabilia that will be left behind. There must be major downsizing of two refrigerators and all the kitchen cabinets. Probably the most drastic downsizing will be in the culinary realm. What we cannot take with us because of limited space, nor cannot eat before we move, will be donated.
As we morph from eating most of our meals at home to taking advantage of the several restaurants available on site, this will be a big adjustment for us.
Maybe we will pretend our new digs are on a romantic resort on some tropical island and eat all of our meals βoutβ in the restaurants for a week. Then we can best decide which meals we will likely eat βinβ so we can plan for grocery shopping. It will be necessary to downsize our food shopping considerably, not because we are dieting, but because our new kitchen will be much skinnier than our current one.
Looking at the linen closet space here and comparing it with the space there was shocking. After a few sniffles of frustration, I realized I would not need sheets and towels for the guest room as there will be no guest room in our new digs. One problem solved!
We are taking advantage of a new industry. As senior living communities burgeoned, so did these new companies. I call them βGeriatric Movers.β A representative has already visited both our old home and new apartment and measured all we want to take with us and gently told us what will and wonβt fit. When the Big Day arrives, they will both pack us up and then unpack us in our new home.
The advice we were given by the lady in charge of our moving transition was helpful and good for my mental health. I was told to concentrate on what I could take with me rather than fretting about what I could not. An executive in the senior community: Give yourself about a month to settle in and adapt to your new life style. Any unpacked boxes on the floor can wait, just donβt trip over them! In addition to the tasks of downsizing and moving, there are the daily tasks of life plus those special tasks like voting, doing taxes, attending concerts for which we hold season tickets, dentist and doctor appointments, servicing the car, etc. New motto: as we can only do one thing at a time, just one worry at a time, Marilyn.
I have learned to break up big, arduous tasks like going to every book case and shelf to decide whether to leave or take a book. Only two or three dozen books at a time. We will take with us three bookcases out of our current eight bookcases plus four walls of shelves. Trying to wade through all the fiction, literature, history, religion, and biography is a time-consuming and difficult task; sometimes even tearful when I remember how much the book added to my pleasure or intellectual growth. After we decide which books will make the move with us, we will haul them to the three lucky bookcases that made the moving cut. I foresee lots of trips as we canβt lift as many books as we could in college days.
I still have to decide on and tag the paintings I will have room for. We are not yet through with downsizing the clothes closets, but we are getting there. Emptying a lifetime of files is taking longer than expected but I am sure Mr. Recycle is happy to get the reams of paper I am discarding. We both are working hard for the environment.
When I first moved to Tucson, I had to memorize the order of the cross streets on the major roads. The cardinal directions were easy to figure out thanks to Finger Rock on the north β¦ in the daytime anyhow! As I hate to get lost or be late, I did a practice run in the daytime when invited to a dinner party during the winter. Over the years I became an experienced Tucson navigator.
But for a while now I have noticed that my mental maps are not as easy to retrieve from my brain as before. I have to work harder to pull them out. Thus, I will practice driving from and getting to our new home. And I will carry a map of my new building until I know where I am going. How embarrassing to not be able to find something as big as an elevator!
Another task ahead is deciding what to do about house plants in a living space that has no window sills. Which ones will grace our balcony? How often do you suppose we will have to water them in the summer? (Note to self: remember to tag and take my ancient, but still serviceable, watering can.)
Interesting that I have been dreaming about the other places I have lived in. The dreams got me thinking about the previous moves in my life. I came to realize that every move I made was for the better as each led to a better life for me. I remember little about the moves but lots about the adventure of having a new city, and house, a new job and new friends.
What kind of adventure will this move, likely to be my last, be? I hope for, and look forward to, a new and exciting adventure!
