PVE Here We Come

I had done little thinking about selling our house and downsizing our belongings, but suddenly we were in the midst of chaos. We had signed the agreement with Paradise Valley Estates and all the good intentions of sorting and choosing what to keep and what to give away had come to a head.

Luckily we had the help of Gentle Transitions whose leader was able to push and prod us into action. We found there was not much of our precious “stuff” our daughters wanted, so that complicated our lives as well. At first I chose the recipients of our giveaways carefully, but when I saw the reality of what lay ahead we made almost daily trips to the Goodwill and the Assistance League. Our longtime contractor and realtor were gems when it came to directing our efforts regarding the house, doing all the little things the buyers requested and some others the contractor suggested.

Our daughters were so helpful in coaxing us gently to give up the treasures we had collected over our lifetime together. We found that photographing these items eased a lot of the angst we felt over separating ourselves from them. On the last day before the packers came our Kathy said, “No more sorting. This is crunch time and it either has to be thrown away or you’ll have to take it with you!”

The escrow on the house was signed on a Monday and we vacated a clean, empty house on Wednesday evening. I don’t know how we managed to have done all we did that summer, but by the time we were moved into our apartment on Friday we were totally exhausted.

Lessons learned were many, but the main one would have to be to live more simply with less “stuff.” After almost four years of living here in PVE, it’s time to start cleaning drawers and cupboards once more!