[redwitch]

One thing I would suggest is taking pictures of the items important to you. My family moved a lot when I was a kid (to put it mildly). My poor mother was used to leaving everything behind but she sure didn't like it (neither did we kids -- 2 boxes each first filled with necessities and then we could add our "stuff" in whatever room was left). So, what she did was take pictures -- pictures of all the pictures my brother and I had drawn; pictures of the things we had made; pictures of special keepsakes; pictures and then more pictures. When she got them developed, she would toss those that made her cry and keep the ones that made her smile. As she said, the memories were always with her even if the stuff wasn't. When she died, I had the pleasure and joy of seeing the pictures she kept -- it was a trip through memory lane that brought many smiles and a few tears (especially the picnic basket we used in Japan weekend after weekend). She very carefully labeled each and every one of them (caused me to totally refresh my German to read them, though). It doesn't make leaving some things behind any easier but it does make it a little less painful.