Catholic Mission In Canada

The first week of November, we stopped to see a new residence near our son's home. As soon as we walked into the lobby, we had a wonderful feeling that “This was it!” The following week, three daughters and a son accompanied us as we decided on which unit to choose. Surprisingly enough, a two bedroom suite had become available: a corner unit with five large windows and a beautiful view. All six of us immediately decided that this was the one. Our deposit was given and papers signed.

Now the sleepless nights began.

Could we be packed and ready to move by early February? Our five bedroom two-storey family home was crammed full of forty-five years of accumulation of odds and ends we MIGHT need someday.

With difficulty, we decided what had to come with us as we downsized from 1900 to 700 square feet. Then we put the rest of our belongings up for grabs. Children and grandchildren first, and then several charitable organizations came with their trucks to take what they could use for their clients.

A real estate agent and family friend kindly offered advice as to how to prepare the house to go on the market. “This wallpaper has to go, it is too busy. Don't worry about the kitchen, that is the first room the buyer will renovate. Paint the house throughout in a neutral colour.”

One of our sons had agreed to host our family Christmas gathering, but gradually the requests started to come in, “Could we please have one last Christmas in the family home?” So, amid packing boxes and much disarray, including sons who had financed themselves through university as College Pro Painters painting the four empty bedrooms, we had a wonderful “Farewell-to-the-house” Christmas.

Then, the pressure was really on, because our moving date had suddenly changed from February to January 16th.

The moving truck was loaded the evening before and early the next morning, children, spouses and assorted grandchildren—twenty in all, arrived to move us in.

Then our helpers went back to the old house and worked very hard preparing it to go on the market. Our house was sold within two weeks, well over the asking price.

Our new home is more than comfortable. The staff is very caring and compassionate. The other residents are very congenial. There is a nurse on staff twenty-four hours a day. The doctor holds visiting hours one day a week. The local parish sends Extraordinary Ministers with Communion each Sunday and the pastor celebrates Mass once a month.

It was an exhausting six-month adventure, but Bill and I have such a sense of relief that it is finally behind us.

The weight of all that “stuff” has been lifted from our shoulders. The family was invaluable in helping to make it a reality, for which we are very grateful.

We wonder what God has planned for our lives now as we begin this next chapter.

(Deacon Bill and Molly Callaghan, retired missionaries from the North, write from their new home in Aurora, Ontario.)

Reprinted from: Catholic Missions In Canada Highlights, July 2010