Downsizing: Letting Go of Memories is Hard

Why does a piece of furniture mean so much to me?

My 95-year-old mother seated on Aunt Mary’s sofa. Photo by the author.

As my husband and I get older, our needs shrink. Just the two of us now, we live in a house where if one person sneezes, the sound ricochets through every room.

We used to live large and, as a consequence, we accumulated a lot of furniture that we no longer need. Some of it was easy to get rid of, like the couch and…