The Great Move-In to New Home 2.0 occurred this weekend.
I say move in. It was really me taking two suitcases packed to the gills, a backpack, and a pickup order that The Ravishing Mrs. TB put in for me at a national chain into an empty apartment, walking through the apartment and noting issues, and then putting away my things.
To be honest with you, I was depressed when I first walked in the door after getting the keys.
No matter how big you make the apartment in your mind, it is inevitably smaller than you remember it. All of a sudden the thought "Where are we going to put everything?" flooded into my mind. Looking at the Master Bedroom Closet space, I suddenly realized how much less it was than our home was. And that I need to get rid of a lot more clothes than I had anticipated.
That thought - size and space -resounded as I walked through each room of the apartment. In theory, the apartment is 50% smaller than our house. That does not seem like so much in my mind - drop off two bedrooms and a family room, and no big deal, right?
It is, apparently, a big deal.
Somewhat obscurely, the kitchen is actually rather large. Which is certainly not what I remember, but is welcome.
It will be an adjustment for sure. One big item, for example, is that there is no real space for a desk, especially if all of the books come with me (which, of course, is what will happen - People get rid of books?). There is a breakfast bar which I assume will become my functional desk, but then I wonder about all of the little things - memories, really - that I had on my desk. What happens to those?
The reality of the move sank it even farther at that point.
I should be grateful, after all. This round two of sorting things would always have had to happen if we moved anyway. This is just accelerating the issue and forcing me to deal with it now, not later. And, I suppose, it is better to take my lumps and do the hard work now rather than have it happen with far less warning and far more urgency in the future.
(As a note, I will not have in-house InterWeb until the coming Friday, so I will be delightfully sponging off coffee shops for free InterWeb and trying to follow things on my phone. As a result, responses may be delayed. Thank you for your patience.)
All too easy for Stuff to accumulate, maybe this is a kick in the pants to de-accumulate.......maybe? DAV is a good place to donate to TB.
ReplyDeleteIt is an incentive to start reducing items, although we are in the position that Na Clann Will still be in the house so we don't necessarily have to get rid of anything right away. But given my recent experience with my parents' place, It is a good reminder.
DeleteSigh. "Will" = "will". Apologies, working off my phone.
DeletePerhaps because we have always lived in a much smaller house than we could afford, judging from my peers, I have always been comfortable with living in an apartment. The space never bothered me. What bothered me were the neighbors in close proximity doing noisy things without thinking about others on the opposite side of their walls.
ReplyDeleteEd, I have a very limited data set to date, but have not really heard anything from any of my neighbors yet. It will be interesting to see what it is like when the weather is more amenable to people being outside.
DeleteI was in the Army for 27 years. I moved all the time, every two to three years. I retired to a farm. 100 year old house a full barn and out buildings. 25 years later, I'm 71 now, we moved off the farm to a house in the country. So much stuff. A lot of trips to the Salvation Army and the Dump. It's very hard to give up who you are. No one will want the stuff I like or have. None of the kids will want it! So! Out it goes.
ReplyDeleteChief
Chief, we have been doing a similar exercise at my parents' house. It has given me some thought because if all goes well, this location will not be our final one, but we would need to re-move one more time and move this stuff. So every incentive in the world to make sure there is less of it here.
DeleteI think having distance has already helped me to be able to look at it with a slightly different eye.
I sure hope you manage well up there. Keep your eye on the prize!
ReplyDeleteI grew up with neighbors no closer than half a mile away. No trees to speak of other than around the house and barn. I could see the lights of four town football stadiums every Friday night. The lights of the north loop in Lubbock, almost 20 miles away were visible. When we moved to Houston, we were in an apartment for 9 months. Ed's noisy neighbors were ours as well. Who steps out the back door at 0200 and mag dumps a 9mm? Once I stood on the dresser to see out of the window. It was apartment roof tops as far as you could see (29.682394316933888, -95.55160703550462). I had tears running down my cheeks. I'm a free range, flat lander at heart I guess. A Plainsman.
STxAR - it is all urban housing around here as well, which I am not necessarily a fan of, but that seems to be the way it is right now. The neighborhood does not seem particularly noisy yet so that is a blessing in disguise although as I noted above, we will see what happens when the weather is better.
DeleteWorst cases this place does not work out and we will move in a year. Best places that it does work out and will service its purpose until the next thing happens.
The apartment may be small, but it will become home, at least for a time. I love that your view is full of trees!
ReplyDeleteSbrgirl - The view, although full of our neighbors, certainly exceeds out current one. On our miniature balcony, it is almost a straight shot view to those trees, which should make for nice coffee in the morning and dinners in the evening.
DeleteI feel your pain of downsizing. I had to reduce my library from a room dedicated to our books to a 5-shelf bookcase. And boy, do I miss my pantry and sewing room!
ReplyDeleteJudy, I feel your pain. There are a lot of things that would come before them if I had my way.
DeleteWe have a decent sized room as s pantry. The second bedroom will double as something else, as we will likely have infrequent guests.
Perhaps any books you want to keep, but don't think you have room for, could be stored at The Ranch?
ReplyDeleteI feel for you, TB.
You all be safe and God bless.
Linda, they could - although that would be a trek there and back again. But it could be done.
DeleteI don't envy you any, but can commiserate! It's always a big adjustment to go from larger to smaller. Our solution was to rent a storage space, which put off some of the purging that was later done.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to be a pretty nice place, though. Another step on the journey.
Leigh, the one advantage we have now is that our children wll still be in the house so we can pick and choose what we want to bring with us with without necessarily having to do a full reconsideration of things. That said, if things work out the way I would like them too. It is not as if we would be returning to that house so there will still have to be some kind o reconsideration snd organization - but it can happen on our timetable.
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