What does it mean to downsize? In Jerry’s and my case it means to leave our beautiful, memory filled four bedroom home of the last thirty- five years and move to a two bedroom , two bath apartment in the city of Falls Church where we will be near two of our five children and their amazing families. This has been for us a home of weddings, births of grandchildren, entertaining extended family and friends, being active in our community, and participating in our parish church.

Church is very important to us and for the first few years after moving here we tried various local parishes never quite feeling like we had found our new spiritual home. We even checked in with the diocesan office to see what geographically they were recommending be our parish church. This turned out to be a very conservative church which was okay but not very inspiring. Finally one of our neighbors asked if we had visited St. John Neumann in Reston. We felt instantly at home. This is a church which practices and truly lives up to the concept: ” All are welcome.” We will miss St. John Neumann when we move. We are grateful for the services and activities we have participated in, for the friends we have made. We appreciate the assurance of one of our parish priests who promises he will find his way to Falls Church to maintain our friendship.

Our present house is only a five minute drive from International Country Club which we have belonged to for the last thirty-five years and where we have spent many happy and sometimes frustrating hours honing our golf skills. Golf is a sport that both Jerry and I enjoy and we are fortunate that as we approach our nineties we are still able to play. We only play nine holes at a time now but do play two to three times a week. When we move to Falls Church we will give up our club membership and play at a very convenient public course-Jefferson Park . In an unusual twist Jefferson Park was the original International Country Club. In the late 1960’s Fairfax County bought the Falls Church International Country Club from its members in exchange for the Fairfax County land the present club resides on plus a considerable sum of money. It was a very good deal for the club and for Fairfax County. Jefferson Park which is a well used public course is only a short drive from our new apartment home.

These past few weeks have been full of emotional happenings. We will be moving into our new abode – back to apartment living – on May 10. When we were first married we lived in an apartment in Arlington, Virginia. It allowed me to continue my job as a public health nurse for Arlington County. I loved my job but when I got pregnant and had some days in those first three months when I really wasn’t feeling well, Jerry suggested I step back from work and we move to Maryland. He was working at the Patent Office during the day and going to Catholic University’s law school four nights a week. Living in Maryland, in the Bethesda area, would be much more convenient for him as he juggled work and night law school. And so when our lease was up we found the perfect apartment in Bethesda. Part of the charm of this location was that my brother Pete and his wife Louise were in an apartment building right across the street from where we settled. It was so much fun having them close by.

Our first born, Jerry – named after his father – was born in the Bethesda apartment. When that lease was up we bought our first home, a small three bedroom rambler, in Kensington, Maryland . In the next four years this home was the birthplace of Maura, Joe , Jim and Meg. It was a wonderful house but as the children got bigger, the house got smaller. We started looking for a bigger home and when Meg was about two we bought a new and bigger home in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It was the home from where the children attended grade school, high school and college.

And then we moved to Virginia to our present home where as I said in starting this blog , we have lived for the past thirty -five . years. It was much more convenient to Jerry’s office. It will be hard to leave this house of such powerful memories but as we approach our nineties, it is time. We are excited to be in Falls Church where two of our married children live . We will be walking distance to the library, to the Community Center, and the Senior Center which offer a number of activities, to a lovely park, to a very fun Farmers’ Market, to some yummy restaurants. And the list goes on.

As we prepare for the big move, Jerry and I like reflecting on the words of an unknown sage, ” You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”