Downsizing

goods, and muscle power to help customers carry purchases to their cars.

One neighbor actually brought a friend to the sale who ended up buying my house! That night I felt euphoric.

But the next morning, when the rejects littered the porch and curb, my balloon burst. A petite older woman knocked at my door and asked if she could take some things. “Fine,” I told her.

I watched from my kitchen window as she stuffed her SUV to capacity. Soon she returned for a second round, taking what was, by then, mostly junk. To me, she appeared like a bird of prey, descending on the scraps

Beacon Bits

July 8 of the good life I had lived in my house.

Her callous manner brought me to tears, releasing feelings of loss, doubt and fear I had suppressed for weeks. Gail’s hug and shoulder to cry on helped cushion the blow.

Thanks to the love and support that I had all through the draining journey of downsizing, I was able to close the front door of my house on the day of my move with a wide smile, stripped of the debris of my past — and filled with excitement about opening a new chapter in my future.

Freelance writer Lynne Vance has been published in the Washington Post, Journal Newspapers and the Montgomery County Sentinel. She currently resides at Riderwood in Silver Spring, Maryland.

ROBERT FROST DISCUSSION (VIRTUAL)

Explore “The Road Not Taken” and other Robert Frost poems in this free online poetry discussion on Sat., July 8, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For a complete list of poems that will be discussed and the link for the Zoom meeting, visit bit.ly/FrostPoems. For more information, email poetry@prattlibrary.org.

BOOK DISCUSSION: STOLEN (VIRTUAL)

July 13

Dr. Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland, discusses his book Stolen: Kidnapping and Enslavement in Antebellum America, about the reverse Underground Railroad Join this free online book talk on Thu., July 13 at 1 p.m. Register at bit.ly/StolenBookTalk. ASL interpretation is available. For more information, call (410) 396-5430.