I have been away for the last six months because my husband, mother and I were in the process of moving everything we own (we’ll ignore the storage units in Kentucky for now) to our new home in California. All that downsizing I did over the last year? Completely inadequate! I should have been downsizing intensively for two or three years. There’s nothing like carrying all your stuff to give you a better perspective on its true value to you.
With the help of my dear sister-in-law Sandy and my brother-in-law Monte, we drove our cars across the country to Sacramento to meet the moving trucks. Our move-in date was in the middle of July, the high temperatures were 102-105 degrees, and we had more boxes than we could fit in our house. Some of the boxes had to sit in the back yard until we could unpack and make room for them!
Later this summer, after hauling boxes of books upstairs all day, I took a vow to refrain from buying any more books for a year. So far, I have kept that promise. It really hasn’t been too difficult, because the Sacramento library is excellent. I actually read more books last year than I did the year before. And I am enjoying the process of putting a book on hold and waiting for my turn to read it. At present, I am #154 out of 560 people waiting to read Prince Harry’s book Spare. I don’t mind the wait, because it makes the experience of reading the book more special. And when I’m finished, I can give the book back to the library instead of having it sit on my shelf gathering dust.