@amberpep I appreciate your sharing with us, Abby. It is hard to know how we will feel when we go through the process of selling a home that we have enjoyed - our homes do become part of us with their own memories and experiences. Take it easy today and do something that will make you feel relaxed and continue to "just put one foot in front of the other and move ahead" as you so aptly said! Teresa

Thank you Teresa for understanding .... at times I feel a bit looney! I think I'll take a nap and go to Target and I need to get some new sheets. I'm not pushing it today ..... just sort of going with the speed of the motor, which isn't much! Lots of wonderful memories in that place .... it was my safe haven and nest when I left my husband .... I felt totally at home.
abby

@amberpep @hopeful33250 We really should be getting our house on the market, it's way too big for the two of us, particularly when you consider the upkeep and that we are not young. The task of clearing things out is daunting though, plus I know it will be very sad for me to give this house up, this is where most of my memories with my son and daughter are and since neither lives close by it makes it even more difficult. I still consider this to be their home.
JK

I wanted to send my respect to you for your great task ahead. My husband and I just cleaned out his family house which we were living in for 3 years which also included all of our stacked up home goods, his parent's complete life, and the memories of our son who is constantly moving in the military and never home.
It was definitely a journey of many months. Dismantling a home that has so much of all of you, and the family history in it takes time to pare down and time to feel ready to let go. I actually hired an organizer consultant who was very gentle with me about how to begin and gave us so many referrals for different steps that needed to be taken. Taking pictures of things that needed to go helped tremendously. I do not have a lot of money, so a few visits from her just got me going and I had a clearer picture of how to categorize what I "must" keep and the majority that had to "move on". What kept me most honest with myself was knowing that I did not want to leave "things" for my son that he would someday not care about yet have to clean out himself. Many tears of loss were shed and when our children have left, the grief and sadness takes time to process in your journey through it.
Now being on the other side in an apartment, it is such a relief and such a weight is off from all the things that once seemed so important. I feel relieved that my son will not be burdened by "stuff". We did keep things that we treasure and it feels like enough.
In our new place, our son visits and we talk of memories now. Everything that might seem gone is always in my heart. Still, as a mother, the transition to my son being away except for stolen weekends is grief and sadness that I work with day by day.
I hope I did not say too much. When you wrote the above, it brought to my mind the many parts of my own transition.
I wish you comfort in your memories and strength to keep pushing through it. There is an end. (I love the beauty of my own new place.)

I totally understand. It is a huge challenge after many years. You accumulate stuff that when you go back and find it you wonder, "what in the world did I keep this for?" And then there's all those things our kids made when they were young and in school .... they're the toughest. This time (and I say this time because I didn't do it before!) I made a list of what I was going to do and the order in which to do them....i.e. 1-linens, 2-sit arounds, etc. Another thing that really helped me this time is a book called "The Moving Experience - A practical guide to psychlogical survival." The whole first part of it is very, very, thought provoking, and the last half is the nuts and bolts of a move. I think you would feel better reading something like this ...... it helped me know that I was not the only one going through this, and that I was not going crazy! Take care of yourself.
abby

@amberpep Some great tips! Teresa

Abby, I totally understand. We placed our names on lists for a retirement apartment, but when something comes open, we just can't give-up our home. We are so comfortable here, but then we think of the time we will no longer be able to take full care of ourselves. We're now 85. Yikes!