Wednesday, November 23, 2011
#2 Off and Away
Remember that last scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc when the arc is in a crate and being stored at some giant warehouse with thousands of other non-descriptive crates? That is where I picture our two storage crates going to today. I know there will be more things we could have put in those crates, but too late. Everything else is coming with us!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Move #1 is Underway!
Ok, the first of three shipments is underway to Italy! I guess that was pretty smooth. I'm still afraid of opening up some cabinet or drawer and realizing there is a bunch of stuff that should have gone out with that quick shipment. Basically, we are at the point where if it doesn't fit in a suitcase that goes with us on the plane, we better be able to do without it for the next 3 months. In reality, we could probably do without a lot of the stuff we own. I'm looking forward to the simple life. Don't get me wrong. I love buying a bunch of cheap stuff at Walmart just like the next bargain shopping American woman, but it will be nice to see what life is like without Walmart and Target. Wow, did I just say that?
Monday, November 21, 2011
New Chapter
This is when it really sinks in that a new chapter in your life is beginning. I am leaving Good Samaritan Hospital this morning for the last time. I have been coming to work here for the last nine years with only two short maternity breaks. I was a student here 10 years ago this coming February. This is definitely bittersweet. I'm sure everyone who works at a hospital has many grievances about faulty processes, out-of-touch administration, and other things surrounding the chaos that is a hospital, but at the end it feels like a family. People come to this place everyday and continue to meet the challenge of taking care of patients, but they are comforted by their colleagues who understand. Medicine continually battles the conflict of too many patients and not enough providers, patients who destroy their own bodies with bad habits as well as those that were dealt a bad genetic hand, a plethora of pharmacy and expensive tests, and the age-old question of, "Who is going to pay for all this?" Even with all that, I feel blessed to be part of the medical community. It will continue to be part of my life, and I wonder what direction it will take in the near future.
We are now at 13 days and counting until we leave the country. Nerves are still jumpy with the upcoming moves scheduled to start tomorrow. There is much to do! Hopefully, tomorrow I can report on a successful first shipment out of the house and underway.
We are now at 13 days and counting until we leave the country. Nerves are still jumpy with the upcoming moves scheduled to start tomorrow. There is much to do! Hopefully, tomorrow I can report on a successful first shipment out of the house and underway.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Arrivederci Boat!
Chris and Tom just pulled away with the boat. Another big item being tucked away. We'll miss you boat! See you in a few years!
Making Progress
As anyone who deals with the government knows, things do not move quickly. This move has been a year in the making. Yes, it was last January we started talking about this job opportunity. Here we are 11 months later wrapping things up. One of our last critical pieces was the visas. One cannot stay more than a month in Italy without one or they will ship you home!
The passport office at Ft Meade seemed very confident they knew what to do to get our visas, but after two failed attempts and three more weeks of lost time, Chris took it upon himself to cut out the middleman and go directly to the source in D.C. This required two awful drives to D.C. (are there any pleasant ones?) and two visits with the snooty Italian consulate who insinuated we were impatient, pushy Americans. Well, we are Americans, no? We want what we want and we want it now! They were miraculously able to take our paperwork and generate a little sticker for each of the families' passports within 24 hours.
In the meantime, Chris was able to take a little walk up Massachusetts Ave while waiting for the Embassy to open and he happened upon some landscapers taking down a tree. He asked for a piece of wood to give his wood-turner father and they hesitantly obliged. The man had to climb the inside security fence and balance one foot on the inside fence and the other foot on the outside security fence and heave the log over the outside fence. Why two security fences you ask? Yea, he was at the Naval Observatory, AKA the Biden residence. I told Chris he should email Dr. Biden and ask if she would like a bowl or wine-stopper made from wood taken from their property. On second thought, that might instigate research into the acquiring of such wood, the viewing of security cameras, and some friendly landscaper might not have his job anymore.
The passport office at Ft Meade seemed very confident they knew what to do to get our visas, but after two failed attempts and three more weeks of lost time, Chris took it upon himself to cut out the middleman and go directly to the source in D.C. This required two awful drives to D.C. (are there any pleasant ones?) and two visits with the snooty Italian consulate who insinuated we were impatient, pushy Americans. Well, we are Americans, no? We want what we want and we want it now! They were miraculously able to take our paperwork and generate a little sticker for each of the families' passports within 24 hours.
In the meantime, Chris was able to take a little walk up Massachusetts Ave while waiting for the Embassy to open and he happened upon some landscapers taking down a tree. He asked for a piece of wood to give his wood-turner father and they hesitantly obliged. The man had to climb the inside security fence and balance one foot on the inside fence and the other foot on the outside security fence and heave the log over the outside fence. Why two security fences you ask? Yea, he was at the Naval Observatory, AKA the Biden residence. I told Chris he should email Dr. Biden and ask if she would like a bowl or wine-stopper made from wood taken from their property. On second thought, that might instigate research into the acquiring of such wood, the viewing of security cameras, and some friendly landscaper might not have his job anymore.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
New Beginnings
As I sit and look out at the sunrise over the Rockfish Valley and watch it slowly melt the frost covering the Eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I contemplate our upcoming changes. This is our third annual anniversary weekend to Wintergreen Resort in Virginia where we are celebrating our eighth anniversary. It has been a wonderful tradition but one that will be put on hold for a few years.
When we return from our trip, I must get down to serious organizing of our things at home. In about three weeks, moving trucks will start coming to take it all away and there are three stages that need to be laid out. As with everyone, I'm sure we have more stuff than we think we have. We have been in this house for 7 years and that is the longest either of us has been in one place since we left our childhood homes.
We are fortunate to have found two people who we think will be great tenants for our house while we are gone. It was a search full of worry. We have found many tenants before but never for the house we care the most about and the house in which we plan to live again. We knew it needed to be someone who would appreciate the view, the water, the beach, and the character of it, but that narrows down the pool of potential tenants significantly.
The tenant search was only one of the many things that has been giving us restless nights, aching necks, uneasy stomachs, and short tempers lately. This moving thing is stressful, and throw in an overseas move for the whole family and it magnifies the stress one hundred fold. Our life is complicated. We have rentals to look after. We had repairs to our house which were being put off but now need to be expedited. We have a boat to winterize and store. We have financial matters to wrap up. We have a dog who needed a good home because he could not come with us. This was the hardest and saddest of all. Last weekend we took him to his new home. I believe he will be very loved there, but I fear he really misses us and that is painful. I am probably humanizing his feelings too much, but the emotions are still raw with us. He is very missed!
We will also miss birthdays and holidays with family and summer outings with friends. We will miss going out on our boat (Chris knew as soon as we made that commitment we would hear something about Italy, and sure enough...). We will miss our parents, our sisters, our nieces and nephews. We hope they all come to visit but we know it won't be enough. We hope they understand that this is not forever and we will return in the blink of an eye. So as we sit here in our beautiful condo on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its spectacular panoramic view, we contemplate things to come. Good things to come.
Buried under the stress of moving and temporary loss of people and traditions, we are immensely excited about new traditions, new travels, and new experiences. Where will we spend Christmas? The alps? Austria? I bet Salzburg is amazingly beautiful at Christmas time. How about Rome? What will we do next summer? How about a week in Spain for the Festival in Pamplona?!? I can't wait to see Spain. What will we do for our tenth wedding anniversary? That is coming up soon. The options are endless.
Besides travel, I look forward to simply enjoying Italian life in and around Vicenza. I want to learn the language and especially would like the children to learn it. I want to explore the markets and taste fantastic food and wine. I want to join the locals in their evening passagiata and take in all there is to absorb in this culture. Yes, there is much to look forward to in the days, weeks, months, and the three years ahead.
So tomorrow it is back to our life in transition. We are enjoying the journey. That is an important part of life that we must not forget. Life is the journey.
When we return from our trip, I must get down to serious organizing of our things at home. In about three weeks, moving trucks will start coming to take it all away and there are three stages that need to be laid out. As with everyone, I'm sure we have more stuff than we think we have. We have been in this house for 7 years and that is the longest either of us has been in one place since we left our childhood homes.
We are fortunate to have found two people who we think will be great tenants for our house while we are gone. It was a search full of worry. We have found many tenants before but never for the house we care the most about and the house in which we plan to live again. We knew it needed to be someone who would appreciate the view, the water, the beach, and the character of it, but that narrows down the pool of potential tenants significantly.
The tenant search was only one of the many things that has been giving us restless nights, aching necks, uneasy stomachs, and short tempers lately. This moving thing is stressful, and throw in an overseas move for the whole family and it magnifies the stress one hundred fold. Our life is complicated. We have rentals to look after. We had repairs to our house which were being put off but now need to be expedited. We have a boat to winterize and store. We have financial matters to wrap up. We have a dog who needed a good home because he could not come with us. This was the hardest and saddest of all. Last weekend we took him to his new home. I believe he will be very loved there, but I fear he really misses us and that is painful. I am probably humanizing his feelings too much, but the emotions are still raw with us. He is very missed!
We will also miss birthdays and holidays with family and summer outings with friends. We will miss going out on our boat (Chris knew as soon as we made that commitment we would hear something about Italy, and sure enough...). We will miss our parents, our sisters, our nieces and nephews. We hope they all come to visit but we know it won't be enough. We hope they understand that this is not forever and we will return in the blink of an eye. So as we sit here in our beautiful condo on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its spectacular panoramic view, we contemplate things to come. Good things to come.
Buried under the stress of moving and temporary loss of people and traditions, we are immensely excited about new traditions, new travels, and new experiences. Where will we spend Christmas? The alps? Austria? I bet Salzburg is amazingly beautiful at Christmas time. How about Rome? What will we do next summer? How about a week in Spain for the Festival in Pamplona?!? I can't wait to see Spain. What will we do for our tenth wedding anniversary? That is coming up soon. The options are endless.
Besides travel, I look forward to simply enjoying Italian life in and around Vicenza. I want to learn the language and especially would like the children to learn it. I want to explore the markets and taste fantastic food and wine. I want to join the locals in their evening passagiata and take in all there is to absorb in this culture. Yes, there is much to look forward to in the days, weeks, months, and the three years ahead.
So tomorrow it is back to our life in transition. We are enjoying the journey. That is an important part of life that we must not forget. Life is the journey.
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