EDLM:
As I think about my day, first I have my morning chores, which I rush to finish so I can start on our fun project of downsizing. It is something that my wife and I, both now retired at age 76, did not see coming at this age, and it is a challenge on many levels. We both were born in Muncie, me in 1944, and her in 1945, 3 months apart. We have many memories from this fascinating town. When I was born, my family lived on E. Charles Street near downtown, and her family lived on Centennial. At age 4, my wife’s family moved to W. Charles Street, and when I was 5, my family moved to Burlington Drive.
As I grew up, I attended public schools entirely, except for grades 4 & 5 when I attended Emerson Country Day School. Living on Burlington Drive, White River ran along behind our home. I was able to launch and paddle my own canoe, and then in the winter I ice skated on the river. We lived there until I graduated Muncie Central High School in 1962. In my neighborhood there were 6 of us boys within 3 years of each other, so we had 2 permanent teams for sporting adventures. It happens that 3 of us went to MCHS, while the other 3 went to Burris, though that wasn’t the divide for teams.
As my wife grew up, living on W. Charles Street, she had only to cross White River Boulevard to get to White River, where she ice skated during the winter. She attended Burris from kindergarten through graduation in 1963, and just happened to be in the same class as 2 of my neighborhood boys.
One day, a friend of mine named J. called and said that he had had a date for that evening with a girl named B., but she had to cancel because her mom wanted her to do the laundry, and he wondered if I would like to go get a soft drink at a drive-in restaurant. I said “Sure”.
At that same time, my wife’s friend B. called her and said she had to cancel her date with J. and, asked her to come over, which she did. The 2 of them working together got the laundry done quickly, so they decided to go out for soft drinks. They were parked at Burkie’s when J. and I drove through, and he said, there is B., who he was supposed to have a date with. We pulled in next to them, and then parked their car on a side street, and they got in our car… and that is when I met my future wife for the first time. That was 1963. We were married in 1965, and now have been very happily married 56 years.
Our first daughter was born in 1967, and our second daughter in 1969. Both were born in Muncie. When they got to the age of school, I was temporarily transferred to Louisville. Since we had to sell our home for that move, we decided to apply for a computer systems analyst position, and I was hired at a hospital in Overland Park, Kansas. We moved there, and stayed for 13 years. Next, we lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee for 20 years. Then back to Overland Park, where we lived, while I worked in KC, Missouri for 7 years. Then we retired to Bella Vista, Arkansas for 4 years, where we thought it was going to be our forever home. But we decided to move back to Muncie to help with family. We lived away from Muncie for 43 years. We traveled a lot, and have many great memories. Soon after we moved back, both of our daughters moved back also, and I think it was to watch over us.
One of our daughters owns a beautifully restored home that happens to have what was a shop behind the house, which just happens to look over the river. She has offered it to us, which is tempting for the future. We currently own our home which is a beautiful 4-bedroom, 3-bath home, with plenty of space for us. Our daughter’s space for us would be 1 bedroom, and 1 bath, but we think we can make it work.
That consideration is the topic of my essay. We have always been comfortable and loved where we have lived. First, if we are going to move, we will have to downsize. Over the years, we have had many wonderful hobbies. She used to work with stained glass. Then, she started quilting and has made many, many beautiful items of each.
I started with canoeing, then kayaking, then started rowing in 1993, and we still own 2 kayaks. I started woodcarving back in the 1970’s, after a visit to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, and still have numerous carvings. I had played several musical instruments, but in the last few years, I have taken up harmonica and mandolin. And why do I mention these special interests of ours? I do because we won’t have room to keep all of our treasures. Currently, we have many reminders of each in our home, and the memories are many, but will we be mindful of our past pleasantries?
Regarding the rowing, I was president of the Lookout Rowing Club during the 1996 Olympics, and that is where the Women’s Olympic Rowing Team resided and trained as they became acclimated for Atlanta. I have framed photos and plaques from that time. I also own a rowing machine, which I have used extensively, including a recognition for rowing the equivalent of the circumference around the continental United States. Like everyone else, our memories of past, and present, hobbies are massive, but we need to scale down. Downsizing my inventory of books, CD’s, and DVD’s, was relatively easy on the first pass, but the next pass won’t be so easy. There are specific memories attached to so many individual items. Some Christmas decorations go back to when our young grandchildren came over, and some when our daughters were still at home. I have lots of tools, and no place to store them in the future. Also, many items are stored in the attic for now, and those will be relatively easy to sell, donate, or trash. We have many boxes and albums with family photos, and someday we will go through each and either discard, keep, or give to a family member.
There are many, many challenges when moving from one house to another, when they are relatively the same size, but throw in a large amount of downsizing and it becomes monumental, and very stressful. Of course, we will donate to family any items that they request, or will accept. Also, we will try to sell, and/or donate, what we can, but the memories that haven’t been specifically shared already, may not have the self-reminders, and that is a disappointment, but we can take pictures of those reminders of cherished memories, and that may help. If we have any spare time from downsizing, we can use it to prep our home to sell.
Having returned to Muncie 4 years ago, it was a true blessing. We have friendships with many neighbors, and friends from the past. We have hobby memories, and with less property responsibilities, we honestly will have more free time, but we definitely look forward to sharing in maintenance at our new location. We will have a beautiful view of the river from our new home. We will be able to share more time with family, including meals, music, gardening, and life. Perhaps we can be even more creative. We cherish the days ahead as a new opportunity to enjoy life experiences and creativity.
Fortunately, the pandemic has had no effect on our plans. The transformation of our new home will take time, but so will our preparation work, which we can coordinate together. As our new home is nearing competition, so will we. Downsizing will be a blessing, and we have already started, but it will require us to stay on task.
Looking ahead, there will be sharing of closeness, meals, community, travel, music, experiences, gardening, the lawn, the river, and I just know that I will cherish a conversation when someone starts it with the words “Remember when…”.
Over the years we have faithfully sought God’s leading on the big issues, and the smaller issues, and He has faithfully been leading us. Sometimes His answers weren’t always right away, but we know God’s timing is perfect.
We go forward by Faith!