I Survived The Move!

It seems the only thing constant is change.  And change we must or be left behind. (click to enlarge)
The clear blue winter sky is reflected in the black waters of a stagnant pond in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  A fallen leaf trying to hold its color.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 300mm f/4 PRO lens + MC-14 1.4x tele-converter; 1/1000th sec. @ f/6.3; ISO 2500

I survived our move!  It's pretty much all over now.  Of course, there were glitches with which to be dealt.  But, you just deal with what's thrown at you as it comes.  Most of all, my stress level has returned to near zero.

To be honest I've not worked so physically hard in the past 30 years as I have in the past four weeks, especially in the past week.  I feel as though I've been chased down, beaten, then hung up by my thumbs—wet!  Well, not that bad, but right now I'm feeling physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.

I interviewed four professional moving companies and found their prices much more than I wanted to pay.  My wife and I decided to use the four weeks to pack almost all of our belongings, then I hired a company to move our 'stuff' to a couple of climate controlled self-storage units nearby.  I figure, even after we have the company move our stuff into our new home, I'll save more than $5000 US.  That savings is worth the pain doing much of the work ourselves.

As of Friday, our house will belong to another couple.  I hope they have as much fun, create as many great memories and enjoy living in the house as did our family.  We lived in that house for over 23 years, which is the longest I've lived anywhere.  I know memories are not the physical building, but when I think about the day we moved in, raising our two children to adulthood and all of the experiences, mostly very good ones, that occurred while we lived there, I admit I'm a bit sad.  But....

I'm ready for a new life adventure.  That adventure is that we are working with a builder to build a new home.  Our new home will be smaller and all the essential living space will be on the first floor.  No more climbing steps to get to our bedroom.  That is important to both of us as we age.

Lessons Learned:

Don't just keep accumulating 'stuff' for years and years without having a plan to periodically purge those things that you no longer need or use.  I will suggest donating rather than selling as charity toward others is an important value.

Don't wait to clean out closets, attics, basements or storage areas when you have to move.  Do it each year.  Your stress level will be at a much healthier level.

Don't put off on your heirs what you should be doing.  They don't deserve to have to deal with all of your 'stuff.'  They don't know what means most to you, what is potentially valuable and what is just old accumulated junk.  You do it as a favor to them.

Finally, having more 'stuff' doesn't equate to being more successful, better, having a better life, or being more satisfied.  I've come to appreciate the "less is more" philosophy and I have promised myself to not only divest myself of more of my belongings as this next year progresses, but to not accumulate any more unless it is absolutely necessary.  That includes camera gear!

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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