Look around your house.  Look in every room, every closet, every cabinet and every drawer.  Suppose you had to reduce everything you owned into a 5’x8’x4.5′ space.  What would you keep?  What would you get rid of?  What can you not part with, but also know you can’t take?  This has been our life for the past three weeks.

First, as you know, we ran ads on the neighborhood site and on Craigslist which took care of most of our furniture.  Then John made a run to Jacksonville to Kelly’s house to drop off an antique dresser, an antique china cabinet, a couch and our grandfather’s clock along with some pictures and a couple other small items.  Jason and Lisa took our living room couch and chair and the entertainment center and TV.  Finally we were making progress.  Gone were two cars, an airplane and a boat.  There in lies the hardest part of the transition so far.  We had two boats!  Both sold sight unseen quickly.  One to a person from Canada and another to someone from New York.  The problem was, we didn’t have the proper trailer for the one going to New York but our Canandian buyer thought he could use it.  It turned out that he could not, so our final ties were still lasting.

Our story for the last few days has had it’s ups and downs, but here is how it has been going.

On Monday our Canadian buyer was supposed to come and sea trial our 18 foot Boston Whaler.  Unfortunately, the lift we needed to move it from our canal to the salt water was broken so his sea trial was put off until Thursday.  When we took him out, he found it wasn’t quite as fast as he expected, so the deal was off.  That meant that we needed to figure out what to do with the boat before Friday’s closing on the house.  Thankfully, we had wonderful neighbors who were more than willing to let us move our boat to their dock.

Friday came and went well.  We put the final shine on the house and went to the closing.  I know Charles and Cahla will feel welcome on Spinnaker Dr.  They are such a nice couple and we are so happy that they were excited to move into our house.

After the closing we spent the next two nights with Susan and Dick Busby while trying to figure out what do with the Whaler as well as spending some serious time repacking the 5x8x4.5 foot trailer.  Thankfully, John is a great packer and all that was left behind were two folding chairs.  At this point, the trailer is in the airplane hangar.  This was a real blessing as we are not trailing it behind everwhere we go.

Next stop was St. Petersburg where we spent two more nights with our friends Ned and Anne. After figuring out that we could leave the boat at a brokerage in Venice, John and I went back to Bradenton to put the boat on a trailer and ready it for the transfer.  However, all good plans seem to have a glitch, and the boat did not fit on the trailer we bought for it!  Back to the drawing board.  John sold the trailer to Carl, the Canandian buyer of the 11 foot Whaler and then called a friend who wholesales boats in St. Pete.  And so, tonight, because Ned and Anne had more company coming it, we decided to take a night in a hotel and we will finally be able to finish with the Whaler tomorrow and head to Jacksonville to visit with Kelly and family.  The dogs have been at Rocky’s since Thursday, where they have boarded everytime we have been away for the past 10 years.  With nothing left in the house and so many places to be these last few days we thought they would be more comfortable. We will pick them up, give them baths and start the trek north finally!  Of course, we did hear about snow up there last week, so slowing down the trip a little seemed ok!

What a week it’s been!  We put an quick clasified ad on our neighborhood website last weekend offering our furniture for sale. After a busy Saturday, we added Craigslit to our offerings.  Before we knew it, our house was almost cleared out. Suddenly, we had no table to eat at, and our only real furniture was in the living room.  Thankfully, our dear friends, Susan and Dick, showed up with a mattress and box spring so we could at least get a good night’s rest.  Tonight John and I packed a load of things that John will drive to Jacksonville to Kelly’s house tomorrow.  We have a few things that Jason and Jeff will take, but basically, we are back to no possessions but the boat!  This is the plan we have had for a very long time, so it is a good thing.  You would think it would bother me to have so few things, but, actually, it is very freeing.  Only a little more than a week till we close on this stage of life and go forward to our new adventure!

We are so many steps closer now!  The house is sold!  It was on the market less than 40 days when we received an offer we couldn’t refuse.  The only issue is that it was for a quick closing!  At first the buyers wanted to close on March 13, but we were able to negotiate an extra week. HOWEVER,,,, that means we had less than three weeks from the acceptance of the offer till we have to be out of here!!!!  Given that we had an inspection on Wednesday, and they had till today to refuse or renegotiate, we feel that we are now in for a warp speed clearing out!  Thankfully, because John spent way more time than the average person getting the house ready, the inspector must not have found much because the buyers didn’t ask for one single adjustment.

We have also sold our airplane – a bittersweet experience for John, I believe.  He will get another plane some day, I am sure.  The Toyota MR2 Spyder was sold, and now it seems we have agreements on both Boston Whalers.  This weekend we will sell whatever furniture we can to neighbors.  We have already sold a patio set, my Adirondack chair, a chair from the den, and assorted decorative items.  I am guessing that, before we know it, we will be sleeping on the floor until the 20th!

Our trip north will begin right after the closing.  We will impose on Kelly and family for a few days, then visit friends in North Carolina, then off to stay with Jeff and family for a few more days.  After that I expect we will do a VRBO for a couple of weeks while we start getting AfterMath ready.  The plan is to then take a shorter trip – maybe to Block Island to try out the boat before we start our journey up the Hudson and into Canada.  It’s hard to believe it is really all happening!  We have been living a whirlwind life, and it is about to get even crazier until we settle aboard in April.