The Joys of Letting Go

Angela considers her new, trim, skinny-legged dining table and says that she and Joel used to host a Thanksgiving feast for more than 30 people on the Upper West Side every year. Now they prefer to be in India, or Paris, or Indonesia. "We tend not to be in the city on holidays anymore. Place cards and the whole thing are no longer necessary," she says with relief. "Living downtown again hasn't really reinvented our lives, but having time at our discretion—and a home that fits our new lives—has. It's very freeing."