When I look back, the exact reasons for our downsizing — from a detached house to a condominium — are a little hazy. But, after the first three days at the condo I was convinced that I had made a mistake.
You could say that financial security played a part in our decision.
House prices had skyrocketed where I lived. Many of my house-owner friends had become millionaires — on paper.
I wasn’t so lucky.
Still, it felt like a good time to cash out.
The clear lure of a life with reduced financial commitments sounded good.
When I first mentioned that we were considering downsizing to a condo, my friends were concerned.
“Everything OK?” they asked. They assumed that I had lost my job.
People associate downsizing with some form of change in status — financial, marital, health, etc.
My wife wasn’t completely convinced either.
“What about the backyard and the flowers?” she asked. “Most of our friends are still upgrading their homes,” she mused.
I reminded her of the time we took off for a summer vacation and came back to a lawn full of dead grass and wilted flowers. I supported my theory with other convincing arguments — you can lock and…
