Starting to eat the elephant

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

Huh?  Well, some background:

We are very comfortably settled in a lovely home we built just over five years ago, living near our grandchildren, with a yard and two dogs.  We have a pond behind us and a garden and a hammock and just about everything we'd dreamed of.

And stuff.  Oh goodness we have stuff.  We have doubles or triples of lots of our stuff.  I have books I read and loved to keep just to ... have.  I have boxes of information about old jobs.  I have boxes of things I have been keeping for my daughter.  I have shelves of art supplies.  You get the picture.  Plus, I have the stuff I received when I helped my mother break up housekeeping (she is now 90 and nearby in assisted living) and the stuff my husband received from his now-deceased parents.  

We (Bill and I, now almost 65 and 60) have been shifting our priorities, however, instead of the comfort of all this Stuff and the loveliness of the home around us.  We want less.  Well, we want less of the Stuff and more of Life.  We want the feeling of being more connected to our values, including the ability to help others in other congregations or communities. Our Stuff is holding us back, limiting our ability to move easily.

We have an elephant to 'eat' (our house/life to reduce, to empty then sell).  So, we are cleaning out, clearing out, selling/ donating/ trashing Stuff, and preparing for a move.  It's daunting, but we hope you will sit with us as we tell our story.  And please leave a comment to touch us and let us know you're listening.  With love.