I lied, there is another downsizing chapter in me: It is at its heart about transitions. It’s a rite-of-passage from one state to another, from one mind-space to tomorrow. For us, the first stages were with passing on those things we weren’t going to be able to take with us because of space limitations. Our formal dining room table with 8 chairs sold on Craigslist, as did our living room couch and companion easy chair. We sold standing lamps, end tables, and a slew of bookcases. Much of it sold for pennies on the dollar, and in the end St. Vinnies’ got a ton of stuff in donations. Surprisingly, we weren’t as attached to most of it as we might have thought.

A second stage in downsizing was in the actual move itself. When we moved 14 years ago from Berkeley to Eugene, we left a home of 1,600 sq. ft. for a home of 1,900 sq. ft., so we actually upsized. We rationalized it was having space for family and our four grandchildren, and as time played out, we did use the space for family gatherings and outings with the grandkids. On one segment of wall in the kitchen we marked their growth milestones from 2008 until 2018 – Casey and Venice were 5 when we began this chronicling, and Xander and Teiya were 2. One aspect of downsizing was painting over this measure of growth for the four.

This time we made the move from 1,900 sq. ft. of space at Panorama Drive to a 2-bedroom apartment of 1,300 sq. ft. on 29^th Avenue. After 14 years in the Panorama Drive home there was muscle-memory in the ease of maneuvering about in that space. Though we’ve now been in the apartment four weeks, it still feels new and the midnight trip to the bathroom isn’t the dream-walk it was in the old place. It takes time to develop the muscle memory of old.

Yesterday I met with an attorney to review our legal papers – our last wills and testaments, and the trust we’ve set up for our son and daughter, and to explore preparation of advanced directives and durable powers of attorney for both of us. On the way home I was on auto-pilot and as I turned off of W 18^th Avenue onto City View, it hit me that I was going the wrong way, to our old house, and I was way across town from where I was actually headed. It takes time to develop muscle memory.

A third stage in downsizing is the inner-space transition in our new home, from the newness of the four walls and empty spaces, to settling furniture in their right places, hanging photographs and paintings and a decorative wool rug we bought in Oaxaca, Mexico some 40 years ago. In fact, the process of hammering that first nail into the wall in order to hang a photograph was the point of claiming this space as ours, as in our home.

All but a couple of photographs are now hung, and I’ve ordered a handful of new prints which will need matting and framing, but we’ve claimed the space and things are largely settling in – We are home.