Life Changes

When I began this blog last year, my original thought was to chronicle our “Adventures in Unemployment”, sharing the lessons learned and potentially sharing coping mechanisms with others who find themselves unexpectedly without income. The blog morphed in so many differing directions, but I think that may be what keeps it interesting for people!

Today, though, I need to revisit the unemployment issue. We've done well for the past year, though not without some scaling back. We came to the realization that finding work was not going to happen and decided to consider ourselves retired. Recently we took our “next big step” in that direction.

We had enjoyed our small home for almost 14 years. We made a lot of upgrades over that time. We were still comfortable despite our neighborhood changing over the years. About a week and a half ago, after an evening of hearing kids playing basketball in the church multi-purpose room next door, hubby brought up the next morning at breakfast that he had been thinking about our selling the house and moving to a retirement apartment.

A retirement apartment?! Really?! We're not nearly that old..........oh, wait, yes we are. Accepting that reality may have been the hardest part – but I had to admit to hubby that I was having those same thoughts about moving. The more we talked, the more we realized we were both on the same page and we felt no need to ruminate on it any further. We called up the local retirement complex and were told to get an application and fill it out to start the process. We got everything filled out and returned that day and were told two units were available.

We decided it made more sense for us to nab one of those available units than to go on a waiting list that could end up being lengthy. So we wrote out the check for the security deposit, got our keys, and were on our way. I've made some crazy moves in my life, but I'm not sure made one with that little notice! We made some necessary phone calls setting up appointments and started cleaning and sorting. We signed the paperwork on Friday, and by Sunday we moved a couple of loads of “stuff” to the new apartment.

All last week we kept the streets between our house and the new apartment well traveled – we'd pack up enough stuff to load the Jeep, then bring it over and put it away. The process would repeat itself and we were bringing over 2-3 loads each day. The local auctioneer met with us on Tuesday afternoon (he's also the local mover) and we got everything set up – there will be an auction on April 6 that will sell the house and then everything we didn't bring with us. As always, it was unbelievable what we tossed and what we left behind for the sale!

The furniture was moved over early Saturday afternoon. We got the bed made, and I found enough of the bathroom items that we could shower. It felt good to tumble into bed that night and know the major part was over. We gave ourselves Sunday to recuperate, then spent the majority of yesterday at the house. Since the utilities are still on and the appliances operational, I took laundry over. While that processed, I did a lot of cleaning, we cleaned out and sorted the “stuff” in the closet, and I took down all the photos. We brought two more loads over yesterday.

We're nearly done. There's a good load left at the house – or maybe a load and a half. But by moving the way we did, things here are pretty settled. This morning was spent organizing – closets, bathroom, etc. It will be a work in progress for awhile.

But in the meantime, we've felt “at home” here since early last week when a new sofa and chair were delivered – that and curtains hung in the living room was all it took to make it feel like “ours”. We had a lot of good years enjoying our home. But we were both ready for the next phase of our adventure – and to lose the grass mowing, snow shoveling, home repairs, and all those other things that are necessary with owning your own home. This has been a very good decision.