WINTER OF DECISIONS

[carold]

We sold our house 4 years ago after realizing that the little bit of time we spent there was costing us more than we were getting out of it. I gave a few things away and stored the rest in a 10x30 airconditioned unit-not cheap. Last year we downsized to a 10x10 giving away all the major furniture and some smaller stuff. It's been hard to get to since we winter in Sarasota and the storage is in Tampa, so the last 2 days we have been moving to a non airconditioned unit across the street from us and downsizing as we did. We are now down to those things that I knew I would have trouble letting go. I have to keep reminding myself that it's just stuff and even if we did buy another house, I would want to furnish differently. Have decided to keep a few things like our depression glass collection, an Italian vase Bob bought while traveling Italy and maybe a few more things, pictures that I will either package or scan into a hard drive and a few things for the kids which they asked for. So, most of my previous life in terms of things will be gone, a few things stored in my son's attic and memory will prevail-at least until that starts to go carold

[Mollysmom]

I got rid of most of my things when I moved into my RV - I stored a few "tubs" of things at my sister's house and took some of the things with me. There are a few things I wish I had kept, but I do still have the memory so it's OK that the object is gone. I figure it's with someone else who's enjoying it as much as I did. I did "misplace" one tub of things I'd really like to get back - I left it at my sister's house and now she can't find it. I sort of miss that stuff, it was mostly things from my Mom, but again - I have the memories so if I never find it that 's OK. My relationship with my sister is more important and I know she feels awful about it so I just don't mention it, maybe some day it'll surface.
Stuff is stuff - people can't be replaced.