The things I left behind

One of the things Facebook seems to do, is allow me to reminisce.Seeing old friends pop-up to say hello, searching for long  lost family members, and connecting with communities where I used to live is such a treat. This weekend I spent (WAY) too many hours searching for people whom have been a part of my life, but I lost touch with. It got me to thinking about the move from Rhode Island to Florida and what we left behind.

Barrington, RI Town Hall

It was such a whirlwind. I remember putting the house in Barrington, RI on the market and the agent calling me the VERY next day to let me know that we had an offer. Who could have expected that a day later we’d be planning what we were taking and what possessions would be left behind (at least temporarily)? Having spent so many years living and working in this community, it wouldn’t be easy. It had become so much a part of my life.

View from Barrington beach

The decision to pack up the car and put the remainder of our things in storage wasn’t easy, especially since we knew it would be a good long time before we returned for them and we had no idea how to pack a storage unit to make the best use of space. We had a mixture of things we’d collected all of our lives – art work, antiques, BOOKS, as well as electronics, kitchen items, etc. In the end, we decided that we wanted to begin fresh, with almost none of our furniture (except a sentimental piece or two), so we rented the smallest unit we could find.

The cost of the self-storage played a big part in our decision, as paying for stuff that we’d eventually just toss out didn’t make sense. In retrospect we made a good decision, as we ended up with our belongings in storage for more than a year, and when we went up to retrieve them realized that we didn’t need most of it.

Our first stop in Florida – Juno Beach

While I don’t miss the “stuff” I do miss the friends that I left behind. I do love looking around the mansion and seeing remnants of our life in Rhode Island, and I try to get back up there every now. It’s been almost a year since I visited and I think it’s time to “go home” to see the people that I miss. I’m just happy that I was able to keep some of the mementos that we had around the place we called home for most of our lives.

This is a sponsored post. The memories are all mine.