Leaving: Part One, Getting Ready

The days before we left were a count down. Every day, one closer to things changing forever. I said to my mom when we got our etickets, "It's all fun and games until you get your tickets." Then it's a whole lot of crying.

We spent the month that Peter was home shopping, packing and saying our goodbye's. We took a 48 hour trip to Seattle to see his family, just taking the baby. I thought it would be really fun, but more than anything it was fast and sad. We are a long way away from home, and hugging loved ones goodbye is hard, especially when you just don't know when you can see them again. And I know that we lived away from family while in Utah, we were just a couple hours flight. We are a thirty hour trip here. (and a HUGE bill for a ticket, short notice can be several thousand dollars) So that was hard.

Grandpa Tennis and Gideon

We were able to take quite a bit of luggage, as the company flew us first class, so we got more weight. They even bought Gid, three months old, his own ticket. So we got 20 pieces, 70 pounds each. I did a lot of home work and found that the biggest bang for your buck, so to say, was to pack in Uhaul dish barrel boxes. They fit the size requirements and 70 pounds is a good amount of weight in them.

Just so you know, Peter's mom has alzheimers. This is why she looks so distant.

So it took us several trips over a few weeks to get all the boxes. We lined them with big yard garbage sacks, just incase water were to present itself somewhere along the trip. Then we packed. And unpacked, and repacked, and packed again. Night after night we stood our garage weighing, padding, cutting and taping. We heard that the customs people in S.A. won't even touch your stuff if there is underwear, tampons or pads in sight. So what did I do? Sprinkled a little of each on the top of every box. (All brand new, of course.) In the end, no one even opened the boxes, but it was worth the peace of mind.

We moved anything we weren't keeping in the house, into our biggest bedroom in the basement. And let me tell you, it is STUFFED. I think we had to close the door and run on our final closing. We left most of our furniture upstairs, brought a lot of things with us, and shoved the rest in there. We sold our blue car. That was a sad day. We bought that car the year we left Seattle, moved it to Houston, and it has been with us ever since. Almost 12 years years. The three oldest kids were brought home from the hospital in that car. Sad. We bought an enclosure to store our big white truck in, it's on the concrete, on the side of the house. (Oh Big White, how I miss you...how I miss driving a car at all. I can't wait to come home and drive you across the country on real roads, and go where ever I want!!!!)

*Smmmoooooch*

On our last night, Peter and I were in the garage, finishing up, and someone walked by. It must have been 11 p.m. or so. We knew who they were, and they knew where we were going. I said to Peter, "If I had just walked by us, and seen all of this, I would have been so jealous. I would have come home and told you that I wanted to move over seas. And, What an exciting adventure! But right now I just think, "What are we doing!!!???" And that pretty much sums up leaving the U.S.

So exciting!!

So sad!

Why?

Why not?