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New everything!


Willis

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Hello friends! Things have change in my life almost ( but not quite ) as fast as they did when I stroked. New house new state and kinda new life too. Right after November we were hit with the desire to change our location and move closer to my daughter's family and my 2 Grandsons 7 and 10 years old. Boom talk about good timing. We made the 100 plus year old farm house pretty much maintenance free as planned but 2 and a half acres was becoming a bit much. for a 66 year old women in spite of her excellent condition. I was still cutting about an acre of grass with my riding mower. Once I quit it was more of a relief than I ever imagined. Sold that and my leaf sweeper to my next door neighbor. Good bye, good bye. Of course moving after almost 40 years in the same house is a task tough on even a healthy person. I helped as much as I could but April had a plan and bought the supplies to make it as easy as moving can be. Once we knew we were doing it she began boxing and labeling for the next 4 and a half months. Appliances stayed and that helped. By the time she found our Shangri-La we were in pretty good shape and yes I still have at least half of my boxes to go through. Ha-ha The icing on the cake of this was my neighbors. They were incredible. I kept telling them they just wanted to get me out of there. One in particular who has 11 acres behind me offered his 14' covered trailer and to take it to my new home 4 hours away when full. He did that 3 times over a 3 week period.  The best thing was he would back it up to our garage and we could load it as we were ready. 3 times! That house held the last vestiges of my stroke and I'm glad to be gone. What surprised me was how when we had to return a few times to wrap things up we couldn't wait to get out of there. I was asked a few times about being sad leaving there and that was an easy "heck no". That is a roof and 4 walls. The memories I have from there didn't stay they moved with me.

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3 hours ago, heathber said:

Hi Will it sounds like a good move. I hope the new place is filled with good times.

Thank you Heathber!  It has those things that will make life easier for a senior and a stroker who is also a senior. 1st floor bedroom and a regular shower as opposed to one at the upper end of a bathtub. Only 1 step across, a handle plus 2 of mine I stuck to the wall at each end.  That has made that dreaded task easier. It will be a good place to convalesce and finish this journey.😍

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Willis that's so exciting!!

I totally agree...memories are in the heart, not four walls!

 

A downstairs bedroom and proper shower!! You are the king of the world!!

 

What a wonderful neighbour YOU must have been, to generate that amazing help!!

 

All the best as you and April settle in at home.

 

💚👑

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9 hours ago, GreenQueen said:

Willis that's so exciting!!

I totally agree...memories are in the heart, not four walls!

 

A downstairs bedroom and proper shower!! You are the king of the world!!

 

What a wonderful neighbour YOU must have been, to generate that amazing help!!

 

All the best as you and April settle in at home.

 

💚👑

😍 You are too sweet! Thank you GreenQueen. What a cool way to say it! I feel like Leonardo DeCaprio at the front of the ship on the Titanic with his arms in the air now lol.

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willis :

 

this is so exciting, I so agree with you memory is in heart & not in four walls, & you & April will be creating wonderful memories in your new shangrila.  you got some great neighbors.

 

Asha

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2 hours ago, HostAsha said:

willis :

 

this is so exciting, I so agree with you memory is in heart & not in four walls, & you & April will be creating wonderful memories in your new shangrila.  you got some great neighbors.

 

Asha

Thank you Asha! Your heartfelt comments mean a lot. He works in mysterious ways as we know. I still  can't believe where we ended up. This new home became available because the 43 year old owner passed suddenly the day after Valentine Day. The closing was sad in spite of our wonderful purchase. I told the widow at the closing that I knew there had been a lot of love in this home and that it would continue. I believe in all spirits and that almost all are good. I will keep his alive here in my thoughts and prayers. She was pleased by that it seemed. What can a person say to someone with a terrible loss like hers and your gain was because of her tragic loss? She thanked us for our generous offer ( we were in that real estate game with both feet, buying and selling all of a sudden ) and I feel she was comfortable now financially and a least didn't have to worry about money.

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Willis. A huge move but you took it at your own pace and that worked in your  favour. A downstairs bedroom is what you need when you are older. I hope you are very  happy there.

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Willis God certainly does work in mysterious ways.

 

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16:9

 

I totally get what you are saying about buying the house under those circumstances. But I feel the lady would have been relieved to sell, however bitter-sweet the sale was.

 

She has to turn the page, move on, have closure etc. Never forget of course, but definitely one of the above.

 

You and April were a real blessing to her, making that next step available to her.

 

💚👑

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7 hours ago, swilkinson said:

Willis. A huge move but you took it at your own pace and that worked in your  favour. A downstairs bedroom is what you need when you are older. I hope you are very  happy there.

Yes you summed that up perfectly. It was mostly at our pace. Very good for April since she did everything just about. Another blessing was when the trailer got to the new home each time my daughter and some of the teammates from her soccer team showed up to unload when they were free. Thank you so much for the well wishes!

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I would like to add that in spite of all these wonderful things going on I am still struggling like everyone here with my physical and mental challenges. Same every single morning for me still. We wake up and nothing has changed. The new home has been a nice distraction but I hope I didn't sound like all my challenges were over and everything was peachy keen.

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We went through a similar time a year ago. Right at the start of covid , we both felt the house we loved was way too much for us.

too much land, room, stuff! So we would drive around every afternoon after my wife came from teaching, to look at homes.

We decided we both liked the area we were in, and wanted a smaller place there. Stumbled on a new development only a mile from our home, we liked the look and feel of the neighborhood, and toured the model home. It was love! Big benefits for me. No stairs, easy to access cabinetry, very efiicient and had a huge glass  shower with no step in.

moving our stuff from a 4700 sq foot house to 1770 was challenging, but we got it done by selling and giving away so much, things I had for years, like automotive tools, music gear and collectibles went away.Even my prized 911SC coupe. And  VW Thing jeep style.Tough to see them go, but rewarding that they would be used and enjoyed( both manual trans, not useful for me anymore).

NOw a year in, we are quite happy in our place, very friendly neighbors and a familiar Yes its been a lot more than 6 months since my stroke, 4 years this week. AHH how time doesn't fly. lol

 

We went through a similar time a year ago. Right at the start of covid , we both felt the house we loved was way too much for us.

too much land, room, stuff! So we would drive around every afternoon after my wife came from teaching, to look at homes.

We decided we both liked the area we were in, and wanted a smaller place there. Stumbled on a new development only a mile from our home, we liked the look and feel of the neighborhood, and toured the model home. It was love! Big benefits for me. No stairs, easy to access cabinetry, very efiicient and had a huge glass  shower with no step in.

moving our stuff from a 4700 sq foot house to 1770 was challenging, but we got it done by selling and giving away so much, things I had for years, like automotive tools, music gear and collectibles went away.Even my prized 911SC coupe. And  VW Thing jeep style.Tough to see them go, but rewarding that they would be used and enjoyed( both manual trans, not useful for me anymore).

NOw a year in, we are quite happy in our place, very friendly neighbors and a familiar Yes its been a lot more than 6 months since my stroke, 4 years this week. AHH how time doesn't fly. lol

 

 

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So refreshing to hear such positive changes. I think I embrace "God works in mysterious ways" more and more all the time. Willis how wonderful it is that you and April started a new journey with open arms and grateful hearts. That can really add light toward His mysterious ways. It's huge when you take a look and notice that all the "things" do not hold all the memories and that our hearts are bigger than that. Memories I hold in my heart are priceless... they give me the most joy. Here's to making new memories and embracing with open arms the memories yet to come! Bravo !!! ❣

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1 hour ago, HostTracy said:

So refreshing to hear such positive changes. I think I embrace "God works in mysterious ways" more and more all the time. Willis how wonderful it is that you and April started a new journey with open arms and grateful hearts. That can really add light toward His mysterious ways. It's huge when you take a look and notice that all the "things" do not hold all the memories and that our hearts are bigger than that. Memories I hold in my heart are priceless... they give me the most joy. Here's to making new memories and embracing with open arms the memories yet to come! Bravo !!! ❣

Thank you. It does Tracy. If you like to read check out "No Time Like the Present" by Michael J. Fox. Diagnosed with Parkinson's at 30. There is a part in there I recently read. He was having a hard time staying optimistic which had always been his MO. His father-in-law told him to remember this: “With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable”  Word!

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21 hours ago, alansd said:

We went through a similar time a year ago. Right at the start of covid , we both felt the house we loved was way too much for us.

too much land, room, stuff! So we would drive around every afternoon after my wife came from teaching, to look at homes.

We decided we both liked the area we were in, and wanted a smaller place there. Stumbled on a new development only a mile from our home, we liked the look and feel of the neighborhood, and toured the model home. It was love! Big benefits for me. No stairs, easy to access cabinetry, very efiicient and had a huge glass  shower with no step in.

moving our stuff from a 4700 sq foot house to 1770 was challenging, but we got it done by selling and giving away so much, things I had for years, like automotive tools, music gear and collectibles went away.Even my prized 911SC coupe. And  VW Thing jeep style.Tough to see them go, but rewarding that they would be used and enjoyed( both manual trans, not useful for me anymore).

NOw a year in, we are quite happy in our place, very friendly neighbors and a familiar Yes its been a lot more than 6 months since my stroke, 4 years this week. AHH how time doesn't fly. lol

 

We went through a similar time a year ago. Right at the start of covid , we both felt the house we loved was way too much for us.

too much land, room, stuff! So we would drive around every afternoon after my wife came from teaching, to look at homes.

We decided we both liked the area we were in, and wanted a smaller place there. Stumbled on a new development only a mile from our home, we liked the look and feel of the neighborhood, and toured the model home. It was love! Big benefits for me. No stairs, easy to access cabinetry, very efiicient and had a huge glass  shower with no step in.

moving our stuff from a 4700 sq foot house to 1770 was challenging, but we got it done by selling and giving away so much, things I had for years, like automotive tools, music gear and collectibles went away.Even my prized 911SC coupe. And  VW Thing jeep style.Tough to see them go, but rewarding that they would be used and enjoyed( both manual trans, not useful for me anymore).

NOw a year in, we are quite happy in our place, very friendly neighbors and a familiar Yes its been a lot more than 6 months since my stroke, 4 years this week. AHH how time doesn't fly. lol

 

 

Fantastic Alan!

 One question, have you come close to unpacking everything? lol I'm working on it in the attached garage (1st one ever) but it's been too hot and muggy to be out there long right now. Come fall I'm hoping to get much more done out there. What is nice is even though I was pretty organized at the farm house and could find what I was looking for most of the time there were "piles". 39 years of "I'll put that somewhere later" adds up. Now as things are unpacked and sorted everything is getting a place. Yes isn't it nice not do many stairs. We actually moved into much more house but the main floor is all bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, family room and living room. Where we picked up square footage is the lower level with the walkout. The laundry has it's own room, there's a 4th bedroom, a large finished rec. area where the walk out is and then a separate room with furnace and such. That room has so many shelves it would serve a small merchant. Built in 91 and what a difference after living in a house built over 100 years ago. So nice to hear you 2 are happy like us and you and I can ride the rest of this out with a little comfort at least.

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On 8/25/2021 at 8:17 PM, Willis said:

Thank you. It does Tracy. If you like to read check out "No Time Like the Present" by Michael J. Fox. Diagnosed with Parkinson's at 30. There is a part in there I recently read. He was having a hard time staying optimistic which had always been his MO. His father-in-law told him to remember this: “With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable”  Word!

Love this! Thank you!

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4 hours ago, GreenQueen said:

Might have to read Marty McFly's book!

 

Love what his father in law told him, one to live by 

 

💚👑

😍✌️

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On 11/9/2021 at 3:43 PM, swilkinson said:

Love those successful moving stories, enjoying 

Iife is a priority after all we have been through, whether caregivers or survivors. 

Thanks! It did work out well having so much time for packing. I'm still unpacking however. Ha-ha. At least it's in an attached garage (my 1st ever
) where I'm working most.

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