Arrivederci Collingswood

It does not sound as good as the Roma version we are familiar with, nor am I leaving a love behind, but I will miss my old town nevertheless. The week has been grueling with non stop work packing and throwing away so much that seemed so important and isn't. Limo has been my constant companion in this exercise hoping to bring one of his toys to distract me and get some playtime. The reality that we spend a lifetime collecting objects to please our sense of worth and to validate our experiences and travels and for the pleasure of doing it. We receive legacies from relatives, professions and departed friends. Then one day you want to relocate and you know you must lighten your load. You question why it is that you have kept all these objects. Some people don't keep anything, others horde and then there are those in between. Every object has a story and a reason for keeping it.

Some of the remnants

I had a porch and sidewalk sale to manage to collect some money from things that might be worth something more than donating or thrashing would provide. A bit of an act of desperation when there is no real need for it. I normally would have just given everything away to multiple AIDS groups to raise money for hospice care and the like, but our local AIDS charity went out of business from lack or patients or support; I don't know which. Other groups such as Purple Heart have a schedule, and Goodwill and Salvation Army have selective policies on what they take anymore. So I tried to make a few dollars and get a chance to see and talk with neighbors and passerbyers. It also afforded me a chance to rest from the boredom of packing. Everything that was left over was picked by a man who took to a children's charity. Mission accomplished.

Friends have come by to photograph the garden fearing changes to come or "as they put it knowing it's here and they will not have access"

Well that is done the packing is not over, but by the time this posts, it will be. I am getting a head start to write this blog as the final days in Collingswood will be overwhelming with real estate transactions, utilities, Internet shut off...you name it. The week has been spent working and packing and unfortunately I have not much time to sit down and enjoy it all. Oh well, I guess I had twelve years of enjoyment.

Parting shot this morning

Collingswood has been home, whether great or small for twelve years and I enjoyed life there with many wonderful friends in a very pleasant community. This week has been about camaraderie of friends and neighbors. All my neighbors and most of my friends have come to help or offer refreshment or nourishment. I have just returned from my last night out in my favorite restaurant in town with some of my dearest Collingswoodites. Tomorrow with luck I will sign the papers get the check and make my way to Tarpon Springs. But as in the lyrics and without to much ado: "...it is time for us to part." So signing off from Collingswood for the final time, Happy Gardening wherever you are!

Limo at Document Signing

PS Another grueling morning with too much to fit in the car for the trip home. My friend Rich bailed me out at last minute taking extra stuff to his home as the moving truck had already left. Even Limo got in on the act. He came to his second closing. Enjoy the clip taken by Rich who at one moment calls him Taxi. She is still part of the scene. It all worked out and I am half-way back to Tarpon spending the night in North Carolina