Yes, I'm delighted with new President Joe Biden. What a few months it has been since the election. The fallout from insurrection at the capitol is just beginning, I'm sure. But Joe has gotten right to work and many wrongs of the Trump era will soon be corrected and the country can move forward in a kinder, healthier, more optimistic manner.
As for me, I was surprised when they opened up the Covid vaccines to the 70+ crowd in my state. I logged in the minute it opened and I was one of the lucky ones to get an appointment. I had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday and will go back around February 12th for the second one. Today I woke with a sore arm and had a sore throat which has now diminished. So far, so good. Meanwhile, I will continue to practice all the recommendations for masks, distancing, hand washing, etc., as there will still remain a small chance of being infected. Once a large enough percentage of the population is vaccinated, we can all start to relax a little. Honestly, I never expected I would be among those vaccinated in January.
At the first of January, I wrote a one word resolution for 2021: Downsize.
I truly believe this is the year I will leave my home of over 40 years and move to something smaller and without stairs. There are some lovely such homes in the neighborhood where two of my sons live, and I am watching for just the right model to come on the market. Every week there is a new listing there. I've been watching those homes as well as sales of homes in my own neighborhood for at least two years, so I have a good idea what to expect both in cost and features of the homes available as well as what I could likely sell my own home for. With my knees on a steady decline, the stairs are keeping me from enjoying life fully. The time has come to make this move.
My downsizing efforts relate to a number of different things, actually. Obviously, I'm ridding my house of anything I don't want to move into the next one. And I'm always trying to downsize myself--taking off weight to feel better and be more active. This week I've been downsizing the amount of paper I have in file boxes. My attitude in the past was "when in doubt, save it". But a lot of what I've saved is readily available online. Plus my files have a lot of real junk, like old utility bills. I'm not entirely satisfied with what I've done this week, but I sure did manage to throw away or shred a great deal of paper. This is just one example of many things in my house getting reduced. I'll continue this project a little more every week now.
I'm also downsizing my wardrobe. I have saved some things for a very long time, mainly because I either paid a lot of money for them or they are tied to a special memory. For example, I have a darling skirt and top I bought in Paris in 1982 when we took a family trip there. It's too small and I will never wear it again. But I have loved that outfit and hate to part with it. I have some large boxes full of clothes now ready to go to a charity shop, including some household items as well. Again, there is much more I can do in this area, and I will continue. The more I give away, the more I realize I don't miss the things I give away.
I've been talking about selling my grand piano for a long time. I don't think I have admitted to myself how hard this will be, and I haven't done it yet. I fully acknowledge it is one major impediment to moving to a smaller place, and I must get it done.
I will be selling some furniture as well, including the sweet Queen Anne style desk I used all those years of working from home. I'm not going to have a dedicated office in the new place and I won't need a big desk. I mostly work with my laptop in my TV room now. Or really, I mostly use my tablet or phone. I got rid of my big desktop computer but I'll keep the printer as I need it from time to time. It will occupy a corner of some room in the new place. Bye bye lovely desk. I really have loved you. You made the workday a little nicer.
Simplify, simplify. Every thing I let go of is one less thing tying me down to maintenance and care. One less thing preventing me from moving to the next phase of my life. The more I let go, the freer I am.
