I have moved many times. Each time I just packed up all my family belongings into a moving van and relocated. In the early years it was easy: pack up the toy box and refrigerator, and the kids were happy.

As the kids got older, it became more difficult.

For one move, Hubby decided that the company he worked for that was moving us should not have to pay to move things that we no longer had any use for.

His opinion of what we had use for differed from mine. But the large English pram was not going to be moved.

Now, keep in mind that I was a very nice person in those years, and if he said they would not move, they did not move. So the pram was given away to my next-door neighbor, who already had my little English crib.

The larger American crib that was passed down from my sister-in-law was still being used, so it got moved. The plan for the youngest kid was to get a big-girl bed as a treat for moving.

My theory on moving is that putting all the stuff that kids would balk at losing in the same time frame as the move would mean that anything that got lost in the shuffle wouldn’t be a big deal. The one that stands out the most is one move where we lost all of the pacifiers.

Going from crib to big-girl bed worked during that move. Changing roommates was another story. Son and No. 1 daughter who used to share a room got split up, and the other two daughters each got a room.

Next move, son was in his own room downstairs with his own bathroom.

Next move, the two youngest girls became roommates and the other two kids got their own rooms.

Last move each got their own room because I wasn’t sure the two youngest wouldn’t kill each other.

Getting back to the move in which I snuck the crib I had no plans of using into the moving van, well, it wound up getting put in the attic. Years later it came down, got painted and became the bed for grandchildren.

In our last move, it was given to a friend at work for her grandchild. Hubby had no clue.

This next move will be a hard one. We have to seriously downsize. Don’t tell me if you need something, because chances are, if I have it, it will become yours.

The hardest things are the gifts my kids have given me – I can’t part with them. So I am giving each one back to the person who gave it to me. Let them have the heart-wrenching problem of finding a home for the item.

In my home are boxes with their names on them, and things get lovingly placed in them.

Church of the Palms is going to have one awesome Grandma’s Attic Sale this April 16, along with 56 years of my treasures. Mark your calendar.

Margaret Griffin has lived in the same house in Sun City Hilton Head for 17 years.