Downsizing, To Move or Not to Move? That is the Question

You are lucky you can afford a 55+ Living facility like that....alot of people cannot. And North Carolina is a beautiful place to live. I wouldn't be complaining.

Yes! It’s also in the New York Times.

I want to applaud the “ It's the memories that are precious, not the objects, and I still have the memories” thought 👏.
Regarding the things; visual items take a picture, add a caption to reflect the meaning, and add into a photo album (better yet put onto a memory stick or iCloud site) watch every so often. Say good bye to the things, give away to those in need if you can.

Jim and I live out in the country (in rural Minnesota) and have 5 acres; about half of it woods and the rest a hilly lawn. And I have seven perennial flower gardens. They've been my real passion, but my meniscus-torn knee doesn't want to take care of those gardens anymore. Our house is big and we can't keep up with what needs to be done on our property. If we could hire yard/garden help, we might consider staying-in-place. But there just aren't those people in our vicinity that we can hire for that help.

So we figure we will move sometime soon. (We're both 71 years old.) We have our name on the list for a few Senior Cooperatives, but there are many people on these lists ahead of us. The co-op offers people interested to buy in the order according to where they are on the list. I can't imagine it will work to sell and buy into a co-op seamlessly. So we think we'll rent in the interim, until we can buy the co-op apartment that we want. Hopefully the cooperative apartment we want will become available within just a couple of years of renting.

Now, we've got a new consideration and we're not sure how it fits into our plans. My husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He had a robotic prostatectomy about three weeks ago and they think there's a good chance the cancer was contained within the prostate. But we do know that a recurrence at some point is a possibility. (We're optimistic for a "cure"!) His first post-surgery PSA will be in about two months. If the result of this test is anything other than "undetectable," we'll know there's still cancer in his body and will need more treatment. So we're nervous for, and looking forward to, getting beyond that benchmark test. We don't know how the cancer, especially if it is still in his body, should best be factored into our decision to make our move - sooner or later. We do know we want to remain within a decent driving distance from Mayo - Rochester, where Jim is getting such excellent care!

If any of you have any thoughts on the pros and cons of moving sooner or later, I'd love to hear them! We still have a lot of decluttering to do before we can put the house on the market. That work pretty much went by the wayside when we were researching the right treatment plan for Jim's cancer. And right now, he's early in his slow recovery from the surgery. And thankfully, his recovery is going well. His health is, of course, the most important thing to focus on! But we know we have some big decisions to make regarding a move and there will be quite a lot of work in that process. Thank you in advance for any thoughts you might share and I wish you all well!
Rose

I'm 82 and live alone on 22 beautiful acres in coastal California. I've had breast cancer and recently a bad hip, but both are under control.
Its hard work for me pulling weeds in the front yard, but it give me exercise. I'm going to stay here as long a I can. It is too wonderful here to move until my health gets really bad. My son stays with me several days a week, working around the house and my daughter brings me groceries. I can't drive due to peripheral neuropathy caused from chemo,. My health insurance takes me on rides to my medical appointments.
I block off half the house when I have the heat on, I was recently stuck in an airport overnight when I missed a connecting flight and I felt proud that I made it sitting in a chair for 8 hours!

Jim and I live out in the country (in rural Minnesota) and have 5 acres; about half of it woods and the rest a hilly lawn. And I have seven perennial flower gardens. They've been my real passion, but my meniscus-torn knee doesn't want to take care of those gardens anymore. Our house is big and we can't keep up with what needs to be done on our property. If we could hire yard/garden help, we might consider staying-in-place. But there just aren't those people in our vicinity that we can hire for that help.

So we figure we will move sometime soon. (We're both 71 years old.) We have our name on the list for a few Senior Cooperatives, but there are many people on these lists ahead of us. The co-op offers people interested to buy in the order according to where they are on the list. I can't imagine it will work to sell and buy into a co-op seamlessly. So we think we'll rent in the interim, until we can buy the co-op apartment that we want. Hopefully the cooperative apartment we want will become available within just a couple of years of renting.

Now, we've got a new consideration and we're not sure how it fits into our plans. My husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He had a robotic prostatectomy about three weeks ago and they think there's a good chance the cancer was contained within the prostate. But we do know that a recurrence at some point is a possibility. (We're optimistic for a "cure"!) His first post-surgery PSA will be in about two months. If the result of this test is anything other than "undetectable," we'll know there's still cancer in his body and will need more treatment. So we're nervous for, and looking forward to, getting beyond that benchmark test. We don't know how the cancer, especially if it is still in his body, should best be factored into our decision to make our move - sooner or later. We do know we want to remain within a decent driving distance from Mayo - Rochester, where Jim is getting such excellent care!

If any of you have any thoughts on the pros and cons of moving sooner or later, I'd love to hear them! We still have a lot of decluttering to do before we can put the house on the market. That work pretty much went by the wayside when we were researching the right treatment plan for Jim's cancer. And right now, he's early in his slow recovery from the surgery. And thankfully, his recovery is going well. His health is, of course, the most important thing to focus on! But we know we have some big decisions to make regarding a move and there will be quite a lot of work in that process. Thank you in advance for any thoughts you might share and I wish you all well!
Rose

I'm 82 and live alone on 22 beautiful acres in coastal California. I've had breast cancer and recently a bad hip, but both are under control.
Its hard work for me pulling weeds in the front yard, but it give me exercise. I'm going to stay here as long a I can. It is too wonderful here to move until my health gets really bad. My son stays with me several days a week, working around the house and my daughter brings me groceries. I can't drive due to peripheral neuropathy caused from chemo,. My health insurance takes me on rides to my medical appointments.
I block off half the house when I have the heat on, I was recently stuck in an airport overnight when I missed a connecting flight and I felt proud that I made it sitting in a chair for 8 hours!