In the end, we just walked away from many remnants of our past.

After too many weeks of sorting, deciding what should be saved and what should not and then filling up three storage rooms, we finally threw up our hands and decided what remained was expendable and left it for charity or the trash bin. Our physical and mental exhaustion prevented any chance of making any more decisions.

Even a new house with three times more space cannot hold all the trinkets, toys and memorabilia from the past four decades of living. We saved a lot but threw away or gave away at least three times what we kept. As the deadline for closing approcahed, we finally threw up our hands and said “that’s it.” We left Arlington Monday with the Liberty packed to the roof, three units of storage space bulging at the seams, two dumpsters at the condo overflowing and various charities around Arlington benefiting from clothes, furniture, electronic equipment and other nicknacks.

In the coming days and weeks, we will probably realize that we tossed or gave away something that we might miss but this move is not about the past. We won’t dwell on what we might have left behind because we have so many reasons to look ahead, not back.