There is a silver lining, as they say.  As everyone now knows, downsizing has been a difficult time for me but I am now in full swing and selling off many items before we sell our home.  One of the more time consuming tasks has been scanning photo albums.  Each album brings me down memory lane and makes me realize what a charmed life I have led thus far.  Remembering my childhood, fondly, knowing I have the greatest parents in the world to right this very moment – I have no regrets and feel blessed.

Today’s album was of our wedding.  We will be married 36 years this October.  I look at those photos and remember how excited we were to begin our life together.

Right after our honeymoon, we took off to start our new life in Florida.  It was a great distance from New York and leaving everything and everyone familiar to me was a scary proposition.   Excitement and trepidation were emotions when my husband told me where we would be living.  In the years of our marriage, I have to say my husband has brought me on many great adventures I would never have done on my own.

Once again, as we prepare for our epic adventure, the same emotions are surfacing.  Once again, knowing he will be by my side as we traverse this great country of ours , those emotions will dwindle and I will look back at those years and thank him for another wonderful journey.

Progress is being made in getting our home ready for market.  Much to our surprise we were ahead of schedule.

Three bedrooms now have fresh paint, new carpets and major reduction in clutter and furniture.  The staging has begun. Neutral colors and carpet, no pictures or personal items so the buyer can picture themselves being in our home.

Funny, twenty seven years ago, my husband and I walked into this house and it was, as my mom described it, “A total disaster”.  She thought I was crazy being six months pregnant and tackling this renovation on a home she would have turned and walked out the same door she entered.

We didn’t see what the house was but what the house would become.  We had vision and the vision was brought to fruition.  We did most of the work ourselves as funds allowed.  I washed and waxed concrete floors for three years. Crazy, but, the kids had a ball scooting around on their big wheels without being yelled at.  Now, my mom agrees it was worth the effort.

Recognizing most people aren’t like that, we are doing all this work so we can get top dollar for our home and RV for a longer period of time.  Only time will tell if our efforts will be rewarded. For now, we are excited to see only green cells (on time) on the project plan and getting closer to our goal.