“A change is as good as a rest!” My Granny Evelyn used to say on occasion, and I am not sure why, because she never even once left her home country to test her theory; but say it she did. And I actually think there is something super refreshing and life-enhancing about doing something different, recognizing the rut you might be finding yourself in and taking a different path, while you still can.
It’s been a rotten, slow year in the property world — you may have noticed. Overpriced homes are sitting on the market, stagnating as if just sitting there will persuade someone to buy them. My lovely real estate partner Letty and I have decided we are going to take the path less traveled and try something different. We will be able to share that information with the world outside very soon. Having made the decision, we both feel invigorated and refreshed; we are a bit more excited about the remaining months of this year to come than the ones behind us. I’m feeling that the change is going to be good for us. It should kickstart our lethargy into some kind of motivation at least.
We have been in our house for 25 years now, nearly to the exact day. I’m thinking a change might be coming down the road in that direction as well. When you have occupied the same space for a quarter of a century and there’s quite a lot of space here to fill, it’s amazing how much stuff you can accumulate, which then just sits there waiting for someone to deal with. Twenty-five years ago, we were younger and fresher with oodles more energy. We didn’t mind tending the best part of 3 acres — later 10 — or dealing with rooms in our house that we seldom use anymore. Now we mind. Our kids are married and live elsewhere with their own lives. They visit with grandkids 2-3 times a year, maybe. Why do we need all this space?
When we moved in here, it was going to be our forever house; except that life changes, you change and you have no idea, when you are 30-odd, how you are going to feel when you are 60. It’s an interesting curveball that hits you upside the head, when you suddenly find reality up close and personal with you; but I’m not afraid by it. Despite the workload that it will inevitably entail, I’m feeling up for the challenge, one drawer, one room at a time. I’m researching what we might do next, where we might go. One thing is for sure — we don’t need all this stuff, so that’s the place to start!
When the subject was first broached, husband’s reaction was to advise that we will leave everything for the kids to deal with. His mother did that to him when she vacated her house in Watsonville and that was a generational space with storage buildings, in addition, which made for an enormous job that we, frankly, resented at the time. I do not remember how many dump loads were required to clear that place, but it was borderline obscene. “We will not be doing that!” I exclaimed pointedly. “That is a horrible thing to do to your kids!”
Husband is not a beast that embraces change, and were I no longer around, he would likely stay put regardless and leave the kids to deal with all the “assets” when he passed on; but once I showed him the $4,500 homeowner insurance bill I had just paid for the year (both regular and earthquake) and I reminded him how much it costs us to run this place, he warmed to the idea. “A new place? A smaller yard?” Yes, both of those things will be requirements, I note. “You have too many clothes,” he points out, helpfully. “Yes, of course I do and you have too many construction and automotive tools — and that is why we must start now and nibble away at the project bit by bit, because this will take time,” I say encouragingly. (“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” another Granny favorite!)
And then when we started thinking about where we might go and what we might do, it all started to be a bit exciting. Something new, something different! We no longer felt so old and tired, we felt invigorated by the world of possibilities that lay at our feet. Perhaps we will move back to England, maybe another State, maybe both. No one was going to tell us what we could or couldn’t do. As long as our animals were OK with it, we would be free to choose.
I think Granny was on to something when she said a change is as good as a rest. I’ve loved the real estate company I worked with for 23 years. I’ve loved my house that we’ve all enjoyed for 25 years, but nothing lasts forever, does it, and, like it or not, change is always guaranteed to be just around the corner. It’s how you respond to the inevitable change that is key.
Our kids are philosophical about us moving, knowing that we are finding it harder to stay up on things with all this space and less energy. Our granddaughter hates the idea of us selling the ranch and moving on, but she’ll likely see us just as often wherever we go and she’ll enjoy new and interesting things when she does. The ranch is all she has ever known in her life and that will be particularly hard for her at first.
But before we go anywhere, we’re going to enjoy the heck out of this place we’ve loved so dearly — and will always love in our hearts and memories. We’re going to clear up our home we call Solace and prep her for a new family to eventually adore. My old dad was well into his 90s when he finally departed the family home of 40-odd years and, in retrospect, he wished he hadn’t waited so long. I don’t want to be forced to make a drastic change in my living situation because I’ve left it nearly too late; I want to go while I still have the freedom to enjoy a new location and be refreshed, not exhausted, by the re-found opportunities at my feet.
I think a change can be as good as a rest. Thank you for that reminder, Granny Evelyn.
