A Life of Changes

 

Two years ago, my wife and I downsized our home and yard and went from 4-5 hours of weekly lawn care to 1-2 hours.  

Lawncare for me was mowing the yard with the riding lawn mower, then using a push mower cut the grass when the riding mower was not suited, then weed eating the perimeter and around the walkways and driveways.

Our old house was two stories, and this one is all on one level.  Changing from 3,000 square feet down to 1,400+ square feet and from 3 garages to two, meaning lots of stuff had to tossed out.

If you have been married to someone for twenty years or more, then you know what accumulation is all about...  and if you are like me, I hold onto stuff just in case I might need it one day.  Two years ago, those days ended.

We have been together for THIRTY years when we made the move, so you can imagine how much STUFF we had collected.

For instance, I was industrial teacher in the area of quality management and process re-engineering.  For Twenty-five years, I collected over twenty file boxes of training manuals and resources to help me in my teachings, and I saved all of them.

It was difficult to take all those boxes to the landfill, but I did.  Going through the act of actually throwing my past life away, helped me accept the new life I was headed into.

Life, for me, has been one of constant changes and constant learning.  I thought that learning would have stopped after I graduated from college, but that is just when the REAL LEARNING began.  Thankfully, college taught me HOW TO TEACH MYSELF which next to learning to type on a typewriter were the two most important skills I acquired.

My mother made me take a typing class in summer school when I was in the eighth grade because she thought my future would be full of some sort of typing.  She was CORRECT.