Thursday, May 21, 2015

Moving back East

Our house is emptying as we prepare for a 1700-mile move a week from today. We have lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico for most of a decade, and now we plan to move to a 55-plus community in the Tampa Bay area in Florida. So we've been selling, donating, recycling and discarding what feels like no end of stuff, much of which we once cared about. The rest, we'll let the movers pack for us. Still we fear we'll bring too much. That non-functioning laptop, that old tower PC, the old papers my mom held onto, the Southwest-themed rugs--time is running out to get rid of it all. We are moving into a smaller house on purpose so we'll be forced to thin and trim.

We all go through stages in life, with so many years of accumulating stuff, but now we are in the less-is-more stage. Time and each other's company trump material things now. Being alive and active, traveling, making friends are more important.

All of this is possible where we are, of course. But Tampa is closer to family and will be an exciting change of pace.

Anyway, this is some of what we are leaving behind: