Downsizing and Saying Goodbye

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[Applause]

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most of us have a home in a neighborhood

and i said goodbye to mine

i wanted to do this and it hit me

in so many directions sometimes i was

happy

sometimes sad sometimes

i was upset and sometimes

totally bored

the home i said goodbye to is the one

i lived in for 30 years

this house has four bedrooms

an attic and a big old basement

my wife molly

two daughters five cats one

dog and i lived there

keeping that old house up to date was a

full-time

job and it was always smiling at me

we’re empty nesters and we decided to

say

goodbye to the suburbs and become

urbanites we found

a downtown apartment building that was

under construction signed the lease

and knew that six months later that’s

where we would be molly and i also know

that when she and i go to heaven it’ll

be much

easier for our two daughters

to clean out an apartment instead of

cleaning out and then selling

a big old house

we have lots of stuff the attic

that had become the catch-all

it was filled with bins and boxes

of memories and nostalgia

we were never hoarders but over time

all of the closets cupboards and bureaus

in every room including the basement

were filled to the brim

the garage became the staging area

i hired a couple of able-bodied young

men

to attack you guessed it the attic

they would climb up three sets of stairs

grab

some boxes downstairs out the front door

and put them in the garage our cars were

abandoned

to the street for me

opening up my boxes i was like a

kid at christmas i was

rediscovering treasures

oh my gosh there it is i wonder what had

happened to it

and i was deciding

which things were going to move into the

new apartment

it ended up with one box for charlie

and tons of boxes for molly

and i was feeling a little sad saying

goodbye

for the two daughters it was a

tedious cell phone review system

i would open up their boxes take a photo

of every single thing and text them

the review system was pretty easy thumbs

keep it thumbs down trash

there were so many thumbs up i had to

rent one of those

storage units and i was

happy saying goodbye to their stuff

photographs there were lots of

photographs and i

knew i’d be saying goodbye to many of

them

i took four other boxes and labeled them

charlie molly daughter one daughter two

and friends i’d grab a photo and quickly

toss it in the right box and

most of them i tossed into the trash

taking out those photos were

bringing back all kind of memories

and nostalgia was setting in

molly was reviewing the furniture and

deciding

which would make the move

all the good old comfy ones they didn’t

make the list

the two daughters wanted a couple of

little things and i lugged those to the

storage unit

to all the rest i kind of shrugged my

shoulders

and said goodbye

now all of this goodbyeness

was keeping me so busy

and i had a huge

realization since there would no longer

be a basement

i’d have to say goodbye to my tools and

tools are full of memories

and remembrances my father had given me

some of the tools

and my uncles and my neighbors nobody

threw away old tools

they gave them to me

can you imagine an old man

shuffling around in the basement talking

well i did and i was

sadly saying goodbye to my tools

now you’re probably thinking

this has got to be it but

worser was yet to happen

you see i have a hobby

i make picture frames

and now with all this time

how would i be happy and somewhat

productive

and then i realized real artists have

a studio so i rented an art

studio took my equipment there

and did not have to say goodbye

to my picture frame hobby

all right i have to admit

i have another hobby i play the

accordion

yes i still take music lessons

and when we had a band we would

entertain the senior citizens at

retirement homes

they were hard of hearing now

the reason i’m bringing this up

is because in the new apartment’s 25

page lease it clearly says

musical instruments not

allowed i doubled up my studio

now i can play my accordion and make

picture frames it’s hello to the studio

and goodbye to the basement

my hardest goodbye was to the

neighborhood

i’ve always been a neighborhood guy

each summer i organized a block party

whenever i was mowing the lawn or raking

the leaves

i’d stop and chat with whoever was

walking by

and frequently in the late afternoon i’d

grab a beer

wander around the neighborhood and hear

what was going on

saying goodbye to that was really

hitting

and one of the neighbors

still leaves a lump in my throat

lived right next door and whenever i’d

see her i’d say hi

what’s going on now

she was always busy and when i would

knock on the door and be in her kitchen

she would always say i can only be here

for five minutes

probably hoping i’d leave right now but

i’d quickly find out what her four kids

were doing

all about her job where they were going

on vacation

and if i’d be invited again

to their thanksgiving dinner

well we only

moved three miles away and i

thought i could go back into her kitchen

and chat with her

but i haven’t done that and if i did

it wouldn’t be the same whenever i

text or send an email to a

neighbor it’s totally different

when i run into one of them we smile and

chat and i hear all about what’s going

but there’s an emptiness and when i

moved into the new apartment

i thought i’d meet all the new neighbors

and it’ll be just like before

but that hasn’t happened sometimes

when i’m on the balcony i’ll see someone

and

we’ll chat but it’s not the same

maybe i’ll write one of those books

moving for dummies and if i

do there’ll be a big chapter on

saying goodbye

i learned a lot the good the bad

and the bittersweet and

no one had ever told me i’d be

saying goodbye

well if sometime

you’re walking around downtown and you

see a tall apartment building and

up on the top there’s a balcony

and on the balcony someone’s there with

a beer

that’s me smile

wave and be sure to say

[Music]

goodbye

[Music]

you