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The downsizing has begun!

Forums General Melanoma Community The downsizing has begun!

  • Post
    KyCyn
    Participant

      Well, January 28th is my last day of work… I find it incredibly hard to believe!!!!!!

      When it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, we realized we couldn't just pack them away again until next year, because we haven't a clue where we'll be next year, other than on the boat!

      Well, January 28th is my last day of work… I find it incredibly hard to believe!!!!!!

      When it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, we realized we couldn't just pack them away again until next year, because we haven't a clue where we'll be next year, other than on the boat!

      So we downsized three huge boxes filled with 30+ years of  Christmas decorations to two teeny tiny boxes, no more than 10x5x5 each, to take on the boat with us.  We had to go through the piles quite often to get them smaller and smaller and smaller, but we finally accomplished it.

      Most of the items are going to a consignment shop where I take things regularly, and the sentimental items are being given to my new mom-in-law and my two brothers, except for three little ornaments of my mom's I'm putting in storage for myself.

      It felt good to get it done.  Now we only have the rest of the house and the garage to go – ha!!

       

      Cyn

       

    Viewing 3 reply threads
    • Replies
        Bonnie Lea
        Participant

          Oh Cyn, I know I am happy for you, but again I am feeling kinda weird.  Perhaps its Oh I dunno.  Next year you will be sailing the ocean blue, hoisting up the sails, and turning the sheets into the wind.  You will be free to hang your unmentionables all on the lines, and pirates like Jack Sparrow will be sooooo afeered to come downwind or upwind, or sidewind, and will give your sweet ride a wide wide berth.

          No perfect storm will advance itself to you, and the schools of dolphins will be your guides.  I hope you get good internet, whereever you be!

          Bonnie Lea
          Participant

            Oh Cyn, I know I am happy for you, but again I am feeling kinda weird.  Perhaps its Oh I dunno.  Next year you will be sailing the ocean blue, hoisting up the sails, and turning the sheets into the wind.  You will be free to hang your unmentionables all on the lines, and pirates like Jack Sparrow will be sooooo afeered to come downwind or upwind, or sidewind, and will give your sweet ride a wide wide berth.

            No perfect storm will advance itself to you, and the schools of dolphins will be your guides.  I hope you get good internet, whereever you be!

            TinaR
            Participant

              Oh, be careful. While wishing you only the best, tons of fun, a future filled with happiness and adventure and certainly not to make you feel bad or anything but cautious- I have to add: Nothing is permanent, including Christmas without land, husbands and the exciting future doesn't need parts of your past to enjoy. I'd rent a big storage facility.

              30 years of life mementos cannot be reclaimed once they're off at the consignment. It may seem like a good idea at the time ( and I thought it was too) but I'll always ache for those things I let go and now realize I miss the memories they bring. The older I get  the harder it is to keep memories alive. Each time I use something from the past I recall something/someone forgotten from the past. When it's gone, it's gone.

              If you can truly dump your past, you're a stronger person than I am and that's great. If you are not sure ( and unless this is a habit with  you, how can you be?)…rent a base for your past. I wish I  had not listened  to my well-meaning friends and family who told me to simplify, simplify simplify ( and always tell me to lighten up/ let go). I am trying to do better with less of myself ( and that IS what it feels like )…but it's difficult. I might not ever open a box of saved stuff…but I'm not getting rid of things/people  I've enjoyed.  From something as ridiculous as a pair of Frye boots from the 1970's that my sister INSISTED would never ever ever come back into style ( uh?) to the Lucite grapes my grandmother wanted me to have when she died — she would always tell me not to touch them as a kid…I always thought they were glass and gorgeous…I  never did touch them as a kid. My sister took them for trash while I was packing for a  move  (" You'll never display them, they take up room, they're cheap plastic grapes-trash"). I think about those boots…perfect condition, gorgeous – I feel only mild annoyance as I COULD wear them now! But the grapes? I have the worst regret, I'm angry, upset, feel as if I betrayed my  grandmother…important enough for her, as she was dying, to ask my Mom to find them and give them to me. Out with the old/in with the new?  I'm going to be old, too and that sounds awful!!! I am NOT going to devalue my past ever again…that's me.

              p.s….cross that "be happy with less" off my New Year's Resolutions…and thanks for the jolt that made me see .

                TinaR
                Participant

                  Sorry, that was me. I need to wear my glasses or post more often…I checked the box for posting. I also can't remember how to post videos? Losing my past [ abilities] right NOW !!! See? Scary.

                  Bonnie Lea
                  Participant

                    whew I am so very glad to know a young thing like you happen to check the wrong box the odd time.  Yeah Cynthia, do be careful with what goes to consignment shops.  You never know.  One day you may want to have back that fly swatter or that bottle opener, I think its a great idea to rent a storage place, even one of those POD things.

                    KyCyn
                    Participant

                      An interesting story:  My mom, many many years ago, decided instead of keeping her keepsakes in a box, she was going to take them out and enjoy them.  So she put several items from her mom on the mantel; I remember there was an antique goose figurine, and quite a few other antique figurines in the mix.

                      That very afternoon, the large, heavy mirror above the mantel fell, and broke every single figurine to smitherines.  The mirror didn't even get a scratch on it.

                      My mom was heartbroken.  The mirror had never fallen before (it had been there for over 20 years) and it hasn't fallen since.

                      The lesson learned by my mom?  She should've put all those figurines out to enjoy years ago – or given them to someone who WOULD enjoy them.

                      Therefore, I started 'purging' several years ago, and have gotten rid of quite a few sentimental items already before this even began.  Partly because of what happened to my mom, I decided quite some time ago not to be glued to 'things.'  The last time I moved, and I faithfully moved my taped-up box of keepsakes, I went through that box and decided more than 1/2 the stuff was not worth keeping; since they were in a box anyway, I never saw them, and the memories they invoked were there with or without the 'things' to which they were attached.

                      Having said that, though, we will have a storage place or POD (we haven't decided which yet), just in case we trade the boat in for land one of these days!

                       

                      Cyn

                      TinaR
                      Participant

                        You must have a better memory  than I do- I need prompts 🙂   I tend to do the same as your Mom …if I buy or receive anything really nice I will not use it. I put it away for sometime special or an emergency. I have all sorts of things …nightgowns, robes, slippers, underthings, china, glasswear, jewlery …items I will not use because I'm afraid something will happen to them. I have tons of junk that never breaks, never rips, never gets a spot. BUT if I wear or use something very special or expensive—I will spill, rip or drop the item.

                        My Mom and my MIL did the same thing. Packing up their belongings after they passed I found so many pretty things with tags still attached and I  remember them always in the same old things day after day. Sad, but I can't start using my things but I can't get rid of them!

                        Good luck and have fun on your new adventure!!!

                        LV
                        Participant

                          Now that is sad, to not be able to enjoy the things you love, for fear of losing them.

                          Eventually, something happens to almost every thing, and certainly to every person. I feel that no one will enjoy my things as much as I do, because it won't mean the same thing to them, and in the end, it is only stuff. Stuff comes and goes, I've never died from losing any of it, and I enjoy seeing the things that mean something to me. Sure, some stuff has been broken over the years. I once decapitated a Hummell figurine – a gift from my husband's aunt – throwing a toy for the dog. Oh well. It's a mistake to think anything is permanent.

                          My two most treasured items are things made for me by my sons when they were young, and I keep them out where I see them every day.

                          LV
                          Participant

                            Now that is sad, to not be able to enjoy the things you love, for fear of losing them.

                            Eventually, something happens to almost every thing, and certainly to every person. I feel that no one will enjoy my things as much as I do, because it won't mean the same thing to them, and in the end, it is only stuff. Stuff comes and goes, I've never died from losing any of it, and I enjoy seeing the things that mean something to me. Sure, some stuff has been broken over the years. I once decapitated a Hummell figurine – a gift from my husband's aunt – throwing a toy for the dog. Oh well. It's a mistake to think anything is permanent.

                            My two most treasured items are things made for me by my sons when they were young, and I keep them out where I see them every day.

                            TinaR
                            Participant

                              You must have a better memory  than I do- I need prompts 🙂   I tend to do the same as your Mom …if I buy or receive anything really nice I will not use it. I put it away for sometime special or an emergency. I have all sorts of things …nightgowns, robes, slippers, underthings, china, glasswear, jewlery …items I will not use because I'm afraid something will happen to them. I have tons of junk that never breaks, never rips, never gets a spot. BUT if I wear or use something very special or expensive—I will spill, rip or drop the item.

                              My Mom and my MIL did the same thing. Packing up their belongings after they passed I found so many pretty things with tags still attached and I  remember them always in the same old things day after day. Sad, but I can't start using my things but I can't get rid of them!

                              Good luck and have fun on your new adventure!!!

                              KyCyn
                              Participant

                                An interesting story:  My mom, many many years ago, decided instead of keeping her keepsakes in a box, she was going to take them out and enjoy them.  So she put several items from her mom on the mantel; I remember there was an antique goose figurine, and quite a few other antique figurines in the mix.

                                That very afternoon, the large, heavy mirror above the mantel fell, and broke every single figurine to smitherines.  The mirror didn't even get a scratch on it.

                                My mom was heartbroken.  The mirror had never fallen before (it had been there for over 20 years) and it hasn't fallen since.

                                The lesson learned by my mom?  She should've put all those figurines out to enjoy years ago – or given them to someone who WOULD enjoy them.

                                Therefore, I started 'purging' several years ago, and have gotten rid of quite a few sentimental items already before this even began.  Partly because of what happened to my mom, I decided quite some time ago not to be glued to 'things.'  The last time I moved, and I faithfully moved my taped-up box of keepsakes, I went through that box and decided more than 1/2 the stuff was not worth keeping; since they were in a box anyway, I never saw them, and the memories they invoked were there with or without the 'things' to which they were attached.

                                Having said that, though, we will have a storage place or POD (we haven't decided which yet), just in case we trade the boat in for land one of these days!

                                 

                                Cyn

                                Bonnie Lea
                                Participant

                                  whew I am so very glad to know a young thing like you happen to check the wrong box the odd time.  Yeah Cynthia, do be careful with what goes to consignment shops.  You never know.  One day you may want to have back that fly swatter or that bottle opener, I think its a great idea to rent a storage place, even one of those POD things.

                                  TinaR
                                  Participant

                                    Sorry, that was me. I need to wear my glasses or post more often…I checked the box for posting. I also can't remember how to post videos? Losing my past [ abilities] right NOW !!! See? Scary.

                                  TinaR
                                  Participant

                                    Oh, be careful. While wishing you only the best, tons of fun, a future filled with happiness and adventure and certainly not to make you feel bad or anything but cautious- I have to add: Nothing is permanent, including Christmas without land, husbands and the exciting future doesn't need parts of your past to enjoy. I'd rent a big storage facility.

                                    30 years of life mementos cannot be reclaimed once they're off at the consignment. It may seem like a good idea at the time ( and I thought it was too) but I'll always ache for those things I let go and now realize I miss the memories they bring. The older I get  the harder it is to keep memories alive. Each time I use something from the past I recall something/someone forgotten from the past. When it's gone, it's gone.

                                    If you can truly dump your past, you're a stronger person than I am and that's great. If you are not sure ( and unless this is a habit with  you, how can you be?)…rent a base for your past. I wish I  had not listened  to my well-meaning friends and family who told me to simplify, simplify simplify ( and always tell me to lighten up/ let go). I am trying to do better with less of myself ( and that IS what it feels like )…but it's difficult. I might not ever open a box of saved stuff…but I'm not getting rid of things/people  I've enjoyed.  From something as ridiculous as a pair of Frye boots from the 1970's that my sister INSISTED would never ever ever come back into style ( uh?) to the Lucite grapes my grandmother wanted me to have when she died — she would always tell me not to touch them as a kid…I always thought they were glass and gorgeous…I  never did touch them as a kid. My sister took them for trash while I was packing for a  move  (" You'll never display them, they take up room, they're cheap plastic grapes-trash"). I think about those boots…perfect condition, gorgeous – I feel only mild annoyance as I COULD wear them now! But the grapes? I have the worst regret, I'm angry, upset, feel as if I betrayed my  grandmother…important enough for her, as she was dying, to ask my Mom to find them and give them to me. Out with the old/in with the new?  I'm going to be old, too and that sounds awful!!! I am NOT going to devalue my past ever again…that's me.

                                    p.s….cross that "be happy with less" off my New Year's Resolutions…and thanks for the jolt that made me see .

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