Most of you are already aware of the sequence of events that have seen Sarah and Hunter moving to Portland. Our move is a logical consequence of theirs. No kids left in Seattle! We enjoy them so much we want to be near them! But there are other reasons at play. My knees are getting worse and we can't see spending 10 more years in a three story house with no shower on the first floor. We love our house, but it just isn't a place that is easy to get old in. Also, we are taking the opportunity to shake up our lives a little and do something really different that continues to be consistent with how we want to live in retirement.
Our plan is to move south, but on a temporary basis. We'll sell the house, but will try out different Portland neighborhoods before deciding which we want to settle into permanently. We suspect we know where we will end up, but are trying to keep open minds. We'll also travel a bit more, taking advantage of our son's large garage (and his graciousness) to leave medium-term items (bicycle, wine fridge, extra clothes) while not paying for a permanent abode for ourselves while traveling for extended periods of time. We expect to be temporary residents or vacationing for 12 to 24 months.
It's a big change for us: no more "home base" and standard routine. We hope we are up for the challenge. The first destination after leaving Seattle and depositing necessary items at the Buffalo Home is Warren, New Jersey. We'll road trip for about two weeks, then visit for some as yet undetermined amount of time, then pick a different route to drive back to Portland. Or maybe visit Florida and Amy's parents. Anyone who knows us will be a little surprised at the lack of advanced planning we've done. We have a route for the trip East, but not a fixed schedule. We don't have any hotel reservations, either. This is part of our attempt to be more care free.
Saying Goodbye to the House
The last 4 months, preparing to vacate our house and get to this new phase have been anything but care free. It's been a real challenge sorting through our possessions and determining which furniture we want to keep and disposing of the rest. We are also down-sizing; we plan to live in a 2 bedroom home, apt. or condo after so much time in 3 bedrooms. It's taken us four months to go through all our stuff to figure out what gives us joy and what has to be left behind.
But it has been fun going through old photos, all our books, the kids' elementary school work! It's been less fun going through the garage to clear it out. As an example, 36 years of home improvement and maintenance has yielded 20 half-empty gallon cans of paint. You can't just through those out, you have to make sure it's all dried out before chucking it in the garbage. The magic ingredient to do this: Kitty Litter!
The Moving company came on Monday (April 15) to pack up all our stuff. They returned on Tuesday to wrap furniture and load it into their truck to take to storage. We didn't appreciate the emotional toll this whole experience would take. After the movers took our stuff, we had to run a few errands (happiest: returning equipment to Comcast). Upon returning to the house to eat our lunch while sitting on our stairs (no chairs left), I gasped upon entering the house. So Empty! Amy said it reminded her of first seeing the house when it was an Open House back in '83.
I thanked the downstairs closet for helping us record our kids heights while they were growing up. I thanked the fireplace for giving us so many cozy, enjoyably warm winter evenings. After doing a little bit of cleaning, we finally filled up the X3 (totally loaded - couldn't see out the back window) and headed for the Rose City.
Unloading most of the car into Kevin's garage, we walked to P's and Q's, a nice neighborhood restaurant, said Goodbye to Loni and Kevin, then started our Road Trip by taking a short drive to Troutdale for our first night after Seattle.
Which brings us to this Blog's name. We can no longer call ourselves Seattle Winders. There are no such Winders left. Yes, there's Sean, but he actually lives in Issaquah.
We also can't very well call ourselves Portland Winders. Kevin has lived there a long time, and both Eliot and Sarah have prior claims. It just wouldn't be right.
The choice we have made: Post Seattle Winders. Kind of a double-meaning, if you consider this is a blog.
Thanks for letting me share some thoughts on this momentous change to our lives. I'll start describing the trip to NJ tomorrow.
Peace.
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