Moving Mom!

Mom in the empty Living Room

What could have been terribly stressful, physically demanding, and endless turned into such a pleasure this week with Mom's move to the apartment at a senior living center. A week ago, the amazing Sharon and Gail arrived at Mom's house to pack up her "pretties" and household items. I assisted by helping Mom sort through the kitchen items realistically since her new kitchen would be quite a bit smaller with less storage available.

Really, how many corning ware casseroles does one person need??? We sorted, moved cupboards, sorted more, packed and watched the girls do the bulk of the packing. It was like having our own moving fairies running through the house. I helped keep Mom out of their way but she intervened when necessary.

On Sunday we went over to the empty apartment, looked around again, and realized that it was much bigger than we remembered with lots of closet storage space. We built a storage shelf (thank you Costco) in the closet to use as the pantry and enjoyed the space, followed by a great fish taco lunch nearby. We also hit up Walmart for some basic groceries.

On Monday, I went to work as planned, Sharon went to the house, and the movers arrived. By noon, I got a call from Mom that the movers had already left the house and were on the way to the apartment, where Sharon and Gail would direct the placement of boxes and furniture. When I arrived at 4:30 pm, it nearly looked completed. The furniture had to be shifted several times by the movers to make it work, but it was all in place and looked great. Mom's friends, George and Florence who live 6 floors up in the same building, invited us for dinner, and by the time we returned to the apartment, all the boxes were broken down and in the hall, the china cabinet was beautiful filled, the bed was made and Mom's home looked ready. I set up her computer, tweaked the furniture a little bit, rearranged and plugged in some lamps. Only the pictures and large mirrors needed to be hung and the maintenance staff would take care of that.

For anyone in this position to downsize, or move their aging parents, take my advice: hire angels like these to help you out. It was worth every penny!

The view outside from the living room, her balcony and "her" trees. In the spring and summer, she will have a lovely green view.

On Sunday, I will take more photos of the new apartment with all Mom's "Pretties."