These last 2 plus months have been interesting in so very many ways. For the past few years, Mark and I have had numerous talks about life and the end of life. One moment you are a couple, and the next you are a widow/widower. It happens like a light switch, married/ alone.

As we had our discussions, we also looked at our home, our life, and our tasks of being a homeowner. Do we “age in place” or do we sell the home and move somewhere else? The conversations went in all sorts of directions, but the base of each was we didn’t want to leave one of us left with a house on an acre, in a snowbelt area of New York, and have the broken-hearted one trying to figure out the next steps, along with having the incredible task of upkeeping the property as you figured out what next.

We hadn’t made any distinct choices yet as to what to do, but I kept looking at my 500 record albums that have been moved and lugged quite a few times. After some personal serious soul-searching on my own, I made a decision to look at my record collection. That record collection brought me through my early teens, through school, relationships, and happy and not-so-happy times, and here I am thinking, what would happen to those records that meant so much to me, when I die? The records meant something to me, and really so many moments and memories were memories to only me, so I went on a search for someone who would appreciate them. Mark asked me a bunch of times if I was sure I wanted to part with them, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

I found a man in East Syracuse who runs a record shop, he had very positive reviews from various customers so I called him. He was really excited to meet us and the albums, he went through each album, and commented on some like they were an old friend to him too. He really appreciated the various albums I had. I felt like it was the right time and the right thing to do. Instead of a dumpster, they are with someone who will help them live on.

After the records were gone, we continued to talk more about life, the future and what did we want. We went back and forth with various thoughts..did we want to keep the house, and travel in the colder months? Did we want to move out of state? Or did we want to sell the house and stay local? It was towards the end of April we took a giant step. We decided to take a chance and talk to a real estate agent. She came over, she was amazing, she LOVED our house and felt it would be loved by others seeing it. So we quickly followed hints of taking personal stuff down from the walls, (pictures of us and family) and we moved pictures around that were more general.

The house was shown for 2 days, and each person wanted a chance at buying it. Within a week, we signed papers and the downsizing began in full force. Our son and his wife and kids came over and helped take away some larger things from our garage, and some exercise equipment, they helped out a huge amount! They were able to utilize some of the things and sell some of them.

Mark and I were making a number of daily trips to Thrifty Shopper ( Rescue Missions Store) and donating items. And in between we started a mission for finding an apartment. So many were unavailable or available in 2 months. We found one, every single thing fell into place. We were able to rent the apartment mid-month, so we could move boxes of things into it before our scheduled move at the end of May. We rented a U-Haul van for a day and we loaded boxes in that. We loaded our Honda CRV with boxes, unloaded them at the apartment, and made another trip. In 2 wks we had put 1100 miles on our car and we had the ability to organize the apartment in steps instead of one moving day.

For us it made sense. We love the apartment and the fact that you can turn the key and not worry about when the lawn needs to be mowed, weeding the mulch, or shoveling the mounds of snow. Some people say they will never leave their homes, and that is okay, but at least for us, when one of us passes, the other won’t have a home to deal with.

I am thankful every day when a new day begins, God is good, life is good, even when there are trials. I have faith that everything happens for a reason, we may not understand the whys, but there are reasons we may see much later in life. This apartment just happened to become available right when we needed it, the new owners of our home ( I understand from our real estate agent) are super excited with the house, it all fits together.

So treasure each moment, for each breath, as each moment is a blessing. You never ever know when that moment is the last.

Until later, Mrs Justa alias Cindy