It wasn't easy

I had lived in a small two bedroom condo for over 13 years.   As I looked around at all the things I had acquired in those years, I felt overwhelmed. Previously Matt and I had lived for 20 years in 3 bedroom house and when he graduated from college and went out on his own I had moved to the condo.   I thought I had downsized then but boy was I wrong.   Just where to begin.   We decided that our goal would be to be in Austin by April of 2010.   Here it was about October 2009 and I had a lot to do to get rid of many of my acquisitions, prep and sell the condo and move my life to Austin. I organized myself to do something everyday and work on a plan to get it all done.   I learned a lot about myself going through this process.  First I went through all my belongings, clothes, books, dishes, jewelry, etc.   This took about 3 or 4 weeks.   I put them into catagories of what I would give away, sell, and keep.  I learned that I could get rid of lots of things.  More to share next time.

An offer I couldn't refuse

It was a wonderful phone call.  All the family lived in Austin and I lived in Houston.   The call was my son and daughter-in-law inviting me to come live with them so that I wouldn't miss out on all the day to day events.  I had not even imagined or wished for such a great offer so it made it a real surprise, an honor, and something that I really wanted to take seriously and think it through.   Little Cooper was about a year old and they wanted to be sure he knew all the members of his family.  I had already been to Austin many times and met all Ashley's family who already made me feel welcomed and at home.   The real questions were was I ready to leave year's of friends, being a volunteer child advocate, and a volunteer lay chaplain at Texas Children's Hospital.  Was I ready to make another transition, go to a new city and start life there.   I gave it a great deal of thought and decided it was the right thing to do.  I wasn't going because I was sick or had no other alternatives.   It was a decision based on looking at all the options and criteria for the move.   Now at 74 I was off to another new adventure.