Now, we have started to pack up things we won't have to have because the realtor told us that if we get a contract, we'll have to be out the day of closing.
Packing opens your eyes to how much STUFF you really have, and you revisit decluttering again. But, you find yourself taking trips down memory lane as well. I'm glad we are starting early. Today Tina handed me a packet of photos that contained a stack of pictures of Dogs... dogs from as far back as High School and my first years in the Corps, mixed with the Shepherd and the boxer from the last few years. 
Good dogs all, but some were just outstanding. 
There was an album of pics that had pics of the cars I had owned.... some great and some that barely ran. Another of friends from my PFC days. Some taken the night before graduation at Boot Camp, when they gave us back our boxes we had packed on arrival. I had a small pocket camera with two rolls of film in mine. I shot 48 pictures and took names and addresses and made prints for everyone. Man were we all skinny after 75 days on the Island.
The memories flood back, some good, some bad, all important. They define us. As you pack, you thin the herd. Miss Tina has made three trips to the dump, and two to Goodwill. We have set aside a few things for the kids, but a couple years ago we sent all their stuff to them. There will be more trips to the dump, and more to Goodwill for sure. We will still have loads to move, and ... if the place doesn't sell and we stay, unpack and settle back in...
... we will have done a great job of decluttering and I'll have plenty of target backers for the range. 
