downsizing

A downside of aging is the need to downsize - always difficult, but anathema to packrats like myself (some would call us 'memorabilia cripples). Faced with a move from a 3-bedroom townhouse to a 1-bedroom apartment, on the chopping-block are bundles of greeting cards with messages that can still make the eyes prickly, the kids' school projects circa 1960, magazines - some going back 2 decades, directions for growing everything, and fixing and cleaning everything even if I didn't have the product but you never know ..., diaries that started off with great bursts of enthusiasm but petering out about March, old boarding passes, 7 passports (so handy if you want to see the aging process in action), and don't even ASK about recipes.

Agreed, all the memories associated with these things are stored behind my furrowed brow - ergo, I shouldn't need to hang on to physical reminders. It's a well-known fact that one's memory for remote events becomes sharper with age but eventually, as my witty sister proclaims in one of her voice-of-doom moments, "....and the marbles start rolling away ....." What then? I'll think about that when the time comes. In the meantime - bring on the shredder and the blue box!

I'll just start on the magazines here. Woops - I was looking everywhere for this article. And here's that recipe I wanted ......!!