It seems strange that I am just now putting on paper, not really paper, just my computer, the paperwork that was involved with us getting ready to leave. Can you imagine the reams and reams of paper I would need on this small boat, not to mention there is no auto correct when using paper. I digress so, back to the purpose of this blog. Getting organised to leave on our adventure. I am just now posting this as I was too busy organising before.
So, this was our plan. Sell the house, sell the contents, sell the business, Marc retires, store our treasures, sell our possessions, give our valuables and that’s exactly what we did.
We spent countless hours discussing the merits of keeping the house, renting the house, the housing market trends, household upkeep costs versus selling and interest returns or gasp frivolously spending the money. The demands that we would have to ask of our family and friends, if we did keep the house. In the end, we chose to do what we thought was a sound decision and sold the house. I think that of all the items that we chose to leave the house was the easiest. Sold, done, gone. Caveat: Marc did a great job fixing those long overdue projects that busy households just never seem to get around to doing. This made selling so much easier. My only cry is, why didn’t we fix them when we lived there.
The Content: Wow first let me say I think I am a minimalist, I love going into a friend's house that is full of things, things to look at, things to touch. A home that feels lived in, but when I do that, it just looks like something gone wrong, terribly wrong. Also, we have moved many, many times, so purging has been a natural occurrence. That being said I had no idea how much “stuff” we had. So, we made piles, piles of what we wanted to keep, piles of what we wanted to sell, piles for the goodwill and piles of what the kids may want. I was really okay with this. Sort of, okay, it was just stuff, but what about my mother's fruit bowl or Ashlee’s first drawing of a turtle. Well, at least I think it was a turtle and thats where it all fell apart. I have a trunk that has followed me through move after move. We used to have a joke about if the house ever caught fire, get the trunk first. This is the first time in my life I have ever left the trunk. The trunk holds me. The first love letter I ever received, pictures from high school of my dearest and still dearest friends, baby books, report cards, a letter from Ash telling me I really wasn’t that bad, another letter from Ash telling me I really was that bad, hand prints, pictures, pictures and more pictures. So you get the point. In the end looking through the trunk and sorting through was a blessing, it gave me the opportunity to remember old friends and their kindness, smile at scribbly drawings and cry.
CRUISING TIP: For those of you thinking about doing just this I need to put some perspective on what we did. Though moving to the boat was a five year plan we organised, sold the house, sold the business, worked till the end, then retired, packed, made the boat ready, and moved to the boat in six months. This was crazy but for us it worked. Without this tight deadline, we procrastinated. We put deadlines on completing tasks. These deadlines were often missed due to other obligations. Give yourself time and lots of it. Plan for the unexpected. My mother was hospitalised for four months of our organising then passed just before us moving to the boat. Helping children, loving grandchildren, needing friends and living life doesn’t stop for you to prepare.
Our friends Dave & Rita from the sailing vessel Bliss II and their crew Barb & Bill Mawhinney also departing on sailing adventures http://www.sailingvesselbliss2.com
