By Melissa Heckscher, Daily Breeze Staff Writer
07/29/2009

Gentle Transitions is a company that helps senior citizens move from their homes to retirement communities. Their personnel help with decisions about what items to keep, packing, setting up utilities and moving. Pearl Davis shares her experience with GT as company president Greg Gunderson and move manager Maria Rajaratnam organize her belongings in her new Manhattan Beach home. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer)
Pearl Davis’ one-bedroom apartment already feels like home.
In her bedroom, a hodgepodge of knickknacks are scattered on a desk; in the bathroom, a bounty of toiletries is stashed in cabinets; and everywhere, her long-held collection of paintings and photographs hang on the walls.
To think, she’s only been here five days.
“What makes it home? It’s the things that mean something to you,” said Davis, 83, who recently moved from her longtime three-bedroom house in Redondo Beach to a senior living facility in Manhattan Beach. “That’s the mindset you have to have.”
At her age, she admitted, moving is a challenging proposition. For one, she can’t lift most things. And the stress of downsizing from a 1,500-square-foot house to a 650-square-foot apartment can be “overwhelming.” Continue Reading →