Before I moved (back in February,) I lived in a 75 year old 4 bedroom house whose systems were aging poorly. I didn't choose it, I didn't buy it. I'd inherited it.
Though I deeply appreciate my good fortune, gradually I've come to realize how much of my life energy was consumed by memories of the past, sorting the piles of memorabilia inside, by worry about what to donate, what to junk, what to keep, what problem to fix, when to fix, the order of fixes, prequals to each fix, and researching contractors and their proposals. It was endless and I was out of my depth as a elderly female never involved with the building trades. As just one person taking up so much space I didn't need - well that bothered me quite a bit also....
I admit I enjoyed the front yard: having coffee on the bench in front of a dwarf lilac I had planted for my Mom. I even enjoyed mowing, snow shoveling, shrub trimming in the front yard - up to a point. But trying to contain poison ivy, invasive weeds, an out-of-control hedge, a half dead blackberry patch and an overgrown uneven backyard became too much - tics, thorns, yellow jackets, large fallen branches, etc...
Combine those stressors with the increasing traffic in Danbury! There used to be shortcuts I knew to avoid jams. But there has been so much construction - so many new apartment complexes in all those formerly under-built areas - even my back roads were crammed with traffic most of the day, Because of that traffic, drivers seemed increasingly crazy.
The house was at the top of a circle with a very steep grade. It's a road without shoulders or sidewalks which complicates taking a walk which we old folks really need to do daily. To walk to another road, it's down an extremely steep grade. I'd do my walking but then to get home to water, bathroom, shower I'd have to climb back up that steep hill when I was already weary and dehydrated. My habit had been driving somewhere else to walk. But now the traffic - ah well.
After 11 years of fence sitting about leaving, my move was sudden. On New years I had no inkling. By last week of January I'd made an offer and was packing like mad. By Valentines day I'd secured a new home. moving just a week later to a 1 bedroom condo, in a 55+ complex with various places to walk to without driving and a little garden area right out of my door, a landscaping crew and enough units that local contractors consider it a "market" and are familiar with the units and the rules.
The house went to flippers, who gave me a detailed repair plan, and got a bargain for their trouble.
No regrets. Just immense relief and time to think about other things.
