Let's get "skinny"

In the tape recorded, conversational story that I had with Jessica, my classmate, during our Linguistics class this summer and an interview in a closed, private conversation, I noticed that as she was telling her story about moving, she made the remark that most people try to get real "skinny" when they find themselves ready for a move in the next year or several months. She had a different situation, as she didn't have the time to "pare down" or "skinny" what she had in possessions, boxes, and closets for the move. In the midst of the inconvenience and frustration of a fast move and fast changes on many levels in her life, she made the miraculous discovery of many family and historical pictures with the stories to go with them. She learned the fascinating fact that her grandmother had been a Floridian who had moved to Texas later in the mid 1800s; something that amazed her and I gathered gave her a peace that she was somehow supposed to be where she was, even in the midst of her storm and all of the uncertainty that came with the many life changes which she was experiencing at the time.