Our downsizing journey began in the fall of 2012. If you haven't been following the saga, you can catch up on <a href="http://judythewriter.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/tipping-point-and-the-course-of-human-events/" target="_blank">Phase 1</a> and <a href="http://judythewriter.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/tipping-point-phase-2-tossing-and-turning-loose/" target="_blank">Phase 2</a>.

We planned to leave on our new adventure after the New Year and be settled in our Colorado home by spring.

Our son and his wife came to help us, selected furniture they wanted to stay in the family. That's Wendy's head above the open box on the floor. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pakcing-with-wendy1.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2666" alt="Packing with Wendy" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pakcing-with-wendy1.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /></a>

After they left, the months betwixt and between our anticipated departure date found our thoughts focused on the new place when reality was living in the old place that no longer resembled our home. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/chest.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2668" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/chest.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="136" /></a>We’d find ourselves going to a cabinet to put something where it had lived for thirty-three years only to realize that that cabinet was no longer there!

It now lived in our son’s home.
<p style="text-align:left;">Every thing was on schedule until Mother Nature threw a curve into our plans. Sub-zero temperatures in Colorado created an electrical outage at our destination home.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Unfortunately, when the electricity returned, our furnace didn’t reignite. Pipes froze. Four pipes burst. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pipeburst.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2670" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pipeburst.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="235" /></a></p>
We quit packing our Houston house, drove to Colorado, and found:<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1stscene.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2673" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1stscene.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /></a><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2671" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/1stscene2.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /> <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/living-hall-2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-2677" alt="Living - hall (2)" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/living-hall-2.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="112" /></a>Amazingly, tear-out went smoothly and restoration was fast. Replacement floors arrived as promised. The house was ready for the arrival of our daughter and her family for spring break. While they played in the snow, we returned to Houston and finished packing.

Finally, on a ninety-degree day in March, we pulled away from the home we’d lived in for thirty-three years. With all our worldly possessions loaded into a trailer and a U-Haul, we headed to our new home in the Rio Grande National Forest where the final phase of our adventure began. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/vans-pulling-out2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2682" alt="vans pulling out2" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/vans-pulling-out2.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="224" /></a>More about that next Tuesday.