Moving on

Due to circumstances, I convinced baby bro to sell The Condo. It's for sale starting Friday. He had visions since our mother's death of using the property for fun, sun, and relaxing, but it hasn't worked out that way and so we are going to see if someone else might want it and use it accordingly. Baby bro didn't think he needed to be here physically to do that, but I reminded him that I'd already cleaned out The Condo on several occasions, and while it is less cluttered, it is still full.

Baby Bro: "Please. We'll have it cleared in two hours."

It took us two and a half days. It was an emotional experience. Maybe more so than I expected, at least on my end. I've never really been attached to The Condo and the last five years of my mother's life changed that in a more negative way so I didn't expect to feel some of the things that I did while working along side my family to sell the place. My brother doesn't want to sell, and he made a few comments regarding that along the lines of "selling The Condo out from underneath me". Since I use that phrase regarding our Indiana home, I recognized it, hated it, and reacted accordingly as siblings do, or at least as I do where he is concerned.

Despite its size, The Condo was full of stuff that once filled a 3,000 square foot home. This was my fourth pass in clearing it out. I've probably already made twenty trips to donation sites in the past. This time we made four. My home is full of the stuff. Now my garage is full of it. My husband is avoiding entering it.

We are leaving the furniture. Our realtor liked the staging of it and also reminded us that in Florida buyers use these condos as second homes. She thinks maybe a buyer might want all of it. Fingers crossed that is what happens because that would be the simplest route. We removed personal items, reminisced over them, and made multiple trips up and down the stairs that for some reason replicate descending and climbing a steep, steep mountain. My brother did most of those trips, although my SIL did quite a bit despite her ailing back.

Midway through we took the day off and played Florida tourists.

Today they headed back to the cold. The Condo is ready for potential buyers. I have a few weeks worth of work in rearranging my house to stuff the stuff now residing in my garage. As I left The Condo with the last load today, I felt relief among the sadness in shutting another door to my mother. I'm hopeful that someone will find as much happiness in the place that my mother did and that it brings much joy.