TheBanyanTree: Downsizing

[Mark Funk]

During a "3-way" conversation with my wife and daughter the other day, I said to my wife "I told you the train was racing down the track and we better get out of the way!"  My daughter said "What do you mean by that?"  to which I said "I told your mom that now that you were working on the project there would be no stopping you."  She said "How rude."
 
Although we were teasing each other, it is true that if we get our middle daughter started on some project she tends to take charge and things start happening faster than we can react to them.  This was the case when we told her that yes, we might be interested in moving to a smaller place with less maintenance and in selling our existing house.
 
Within an hour or two of that first conversation she had a "plan" and list of things we would have to do to get ready to move, including repairs we would need to make to our existing house.  She had talked to my other daughters and their significant others about who would do what, and even found and previewed a couple of places that she thought would be suitable new homes.  The "downsizing" "train" was racing down the track and she hopes to have us "out of here" before the end of the year.
 
You may relate to our feeling less than enthused and wanting to move a bit slower.  We are after all set in our ways and reluctant to change our routine of many years.  Still it probably is time.  I don't go up and down the stairs nearly as quickly as I once did and now that the nest is empty we don't need nearly as much space.  We still enjoy our garden and the view from our deck, but mowing the lawn and doing outside maintenance has become a very real pain.
 
A townhouse or twin home with all the main living area on one level and no outside maintenance would be nice.  But what would we have to give up to move and how can we get everything packed and ready to go (pardon my "French" but our last move was hell and we've had another 19 years to collect stuff since then).  Are we really ready for this?  Can we still jump off this train?
 
Perhaps not as we are supposed to meet with a realtor on Friday.
 
Mark