4th Annual Real-Life Stories of Moving and Downsizing

Check out more photos on the Paparazzi page!

The best advice on moving and downsizing doesn't always come from the experts. Sometimes it comes from the people who have actually done it. That idea has powered the Real-Life Stories of Moving and Downsizing event for four years running, and the 2026 edition, held at the headquarters of JK Moving Services, proved it once again.
Organized by the Loudoun Senior Interest Network (LSIN), the Northern Virginia Senior Resource Network (NVSRN) and host JK Moving Services, the event brought together a variety of senior living professionals and consumers interested in connecting on transitions. The format is simple: skip the slide deck and let real people tell their real stories.

Honoring the pioneers
The afternoon opened by recognizing the board members of LSIN and NVSRN, the pioneers who launched this event and have kept it growing year after year. Their networks connect hundreds of professionals serving older adults across Northern Virginia, and this event has become one of the ways they turn those connections into shared learning.
JK Moving President David Cox then welcomed guests with the company's origin story. Chuck Kuhn started the business in 1982, at just 16 years old, working out of the basement of his parents' home. More than four decades later, JK has become the largest independent moving company in North America, with over half a million moves completed and a long list of industry and corporate awards recognizing its people and service.

Two moves, two stories
Steve Gurney of the Positive Aging Community moderated a panel featuring two people who recently made the move to senior living, each by a very different road.

Jim Oakes: a caregiver's transition
Jim Oakes spent his career in health technology. His move began with his wife Peggy's journey with dementia. Learning to talk about it and ask for help, he said, "took some doing and it took some time." Once Peggy moved into memory care, Jim knew he didn't want to stay in their Round Hill home alone, and he began the work of downsizing.
He chose Arbor Terrace, an independent living community of about 80 residents. Jim compares senior living to cruising: some people love the 3,000-passenger ships, others prefer a small sailboat. His community sits in the middle, and that hits his sweet spot. On his first nights, residents sat down beside him at dinner and introduced themselves. Many had walked the same road with a spouse. When Peggy passed away, he found himself surrounded by a support community that "didn't let me go through that alone."
A friend once described Arbor Terrace to him as "a fraternity house for seniors," and Jim thinks there's something to that. "It's what you make of it," he said.

James Vandeputte: moving in his 60s
James Vandeputte took a different path: he moved to Goodwin House in his 60s, well before most people consider it. He joined the community's priority list in 2018, which let him try on the idea without being locked in. Open house events, getting to know the staff and hearing residents' experiences won him over one step at a time. (Read more in his Beacon story, "I'm Young in My Senior Living Community".)
Four years in, he has no regrets. "It was the best decision I ever made," James said. "I've never been happier in my whole life."
Asked how it feels to live among people older than him, he offered a line the room loved: "I always felt that old people were young people who aged." And to those who worry about age-segregated living, he said his world has only grown: "My life has expanded so much. It has not contracted at all."

Lessons in letting go
The conversation kept circling back to the hardest part of any move: the stuff. The panelists' advice, drawn from their own experience and from audience questions, included:

• Try a "pay what you want" garage sale. Jim skipped eBay and put everything out with no price tags, asking buyers to pay what they thought it was worth, with proceeds going to charity. His goal was clearing space, not raising money, and it worked. (One shopper couldn't handle the concept, asked his price five times, and walked away when he finally named one.)
• Break it into stages. James recommended taking a mental inventory, then a physical one, and tackling manageable pieces rather than everything at once.
• Notice how you actually live. Jim realized he and Peggy had been living in less than half of their house, which made clearing the other half much easier.
• Make the kids decide now. Jim's one firm rule: his children had to say yes or no to the family "treasures." "I might want it someday" wasn't an answer, so undecided items went to donation.
• Skip the storage unit. Jim rented one after moving and soon realized he was paying to store things he didn't want. "Once it's gone, I don't miss it," he said.
• Digitize the photos. Jim spent years scanning family photographs, where most of the real memories live.
• Plan ahead. "If you can prepare and plan, you'll thank yourself later," James said. Planning gave him confidence and helped him sleep at night.

Both admitted they still moved with too much. Jim has given away some 500 books and still has a crowded office. "I think books multiply in a dark room," he joked.
When an audience member asked whether they missed anything, James mentioned his collection of contemporary American ceramics from the 1980s, including works by artists shown at the Renwick Gallery, which he sold. He chose to "put them back out in the universe," with just a little regret. Jim's regrets run the other way: "I really haven't regretted anything I've gotten rid of. I have regretted some of the things I've hung onto." James added a tip for younger buyers: he now wishes he'd furnished his home from auction houses. A rosewood dining set he bought for $1,000 in 2003 sold at auction for $125.
Another attendee, touring communities herself, asked how they chose. James's search began with a close friend who already lived at Goodwin House, then came down to a good gut feeling. Jim brought a checklist to every tour, but in the end Arbor Terrace simply "felt right." His best indicator: watch how staff and residents treat each other.
A third attendee worried that selling her home would give her grown children on the West Coast no reason to visit. Jim's reply drew laughs: "I have a newsflash for you. They don't want it." He shipped the items his kids wanted to his son in Texas and let go of keeping their rooms. Steve added a tip from move managers: before moving anything, walk through the house with your phone and narrate a video tour, so the memories are preserved for good. James framed it his own way: life isn't one long journey but a series of destinations, and this is simply one more stop.
Steve closed the panel with a reminder for professionals and families alike: a move to senior living doesn't have to be permanent. He has interviewed several people who left life plan communities with large entry fees and got nearly all of their money back. Like a first apartment, he said, it's a decision you can change.

Packing like a pro with Johnny Harris
The second half of the program turned hands-on. JK Moving's Johnny Harris has been with the company for 38 years and was one of Chuck Kuhn's first employees. In the early days, the team moved houses by day and office buildings by night, then strung hammocks in the back of the truck and slept there. Today, the training house where JK teaches all of its residential movers is named in Johnny's honor.
With audience volunteers, Johnny demonstrated how the pros protect furniture and fragile items:

• Padding a chair: Wrap moving blankets tight from left to right, then secure them with oversized exercise rubber bands running from the legs to the back. Tag each piece with the room it came from so movers can place it at the destination without asking.
• Taping a box: Three strips down the middle and one on each side. No need to tape it a dozen times.
• Packing china: Start with paper in the bottom, wrap each plate in layers of paper, and stand plates on edge rather than laying them flat. "Everything stands up," Johnny said. Plates, like people, are stronger standing than lying down.
• Lids and tops: Pack them separately, and mark the box so the unpacker knows exactly where each piece is.
• Fill the empty spaces: Tuck small figurines and trinkets into lidded containers or bowls instead of packing air. "You're paying for empty stuff going into a box," he pointed out.
• Use a big, heavy-duty box for fragiles. It surprised many in the room, but a well-packed large box is sturdier than many small ones. Johnny said he has dropped one without breaking anything inside. Just never mix books in with breakables.

Johnny also showed a clever trick: taping old empty tape rolls together to create a cradle that holds crystal stems securely. For a family's most treasured pieces, such as a mother's or grandmother's vase, he asks the owner for five minutes to watch him wrap it, so they can see it's handled with care.
Attendees also asked about specialty items like adjustable beds, Pelotons and treadmills. A JK representative explained that the company coordinates a third-party specialist who disassembles the item on moving day and reassembles it at the new home, usually the same day or the next.

Looking ahead to 2027
The event wrapped with thanks to NVSRN, LSIN and JK Moving, and raffle prizes courtesy of JK.  Attendees then stayed to network and tour Johnny's training house.

As Jim put it, whatever age you are in your head is probably the age you'll stay, "and I don't see any particular reason to start feeling like or acting like I'm old."
Learn more

• JK Moving Services senior moving
• Loudoun Senior Interest Network (LSIN)
• Northern Virginia Senior Resource Network (NVSRN)
• Video: Jim Oakes, Finding Community and Purpose in the Next Chapter
• Video: James Vandeputte, Why I Chose a Senior Living Community in My 60s
• The Beacon: I'm Young in My Senior Living Community