Last Night In Virginia

So much to pack before morning (10 checked suitcases! Plus hand carried!) but I wanted to get something down for the record. What a Whirl. Wind. It has been.

- Yes, we sold the red car. Funny memory of how N handed Dad and I the cashiers check from Bank Of America and asked us to "make sure it's real" before heading out to finish up the sale. We were holding it up to the light and looking really closely at it, laughing at our inability to ensure its legitimacy.

- I still can't believe we emptied that house! Holy cow. And when I say "we", I really mean EVERY ONE involved in the pack out. Thank you just doesn't cover it for how much Dad and Mom helped us out. Everyone sort of took on an area of the house, and as I scurried after the kids, I kept seeing things being dealt with that I hadn't even thought of. The fridge! The shed out back! The attic! Ack! It's really hard for me to believe that we just can't go back there and see all our stuff around - laundry on the way up the stairs, kid art galleries on the wall, wet towels from swimming on the doors. Sigh. We threw out so much stuff I can't even begin to explain. Mom gave me kudos at the end saying that she was a little concerned about my ability to give stuff up (because I am so sentimental, like her) but that she was pleasantly surprised. Believe me, there is still going to be a lot of stuff showing up in our HHE that I'll certainly question our thinking in shipping it! In the end I think I found 17 nail clippers. That is but one small example of how an unorganized life can lead to sickening amounts of overpurchasing.

- The professional packers who came (Fernando, Elizabeth, Bobby and Michael) were awesome. Seriously awesome. I really enjoyed talking to them while they worked, and couldn't help but give them big hugs when they departed after 3 days. We way underestimated our UAB (air shipment) and ended up throwing a bunch more stuff in at the end - including the grill! The girls got to add their bikes to UAB too, so that'll be fun.

- Our HHE allowance was 7,200 lbs and we came in around 5,200 which was very good to hear. And that includes the piano! We were tempted to add things from storage to that group but in the end decided against it and just went with the weight we had.

- Thanks to Mom's great idea, we designated the upstairs bathroom as the "NO" room, and put anything in there that was NOT to be packed. Like the passports. N had all the important documents and papers in a yellow bag nicknamed "the football", and if he didn't have it on him, he had it in the No Room. I should've put my shoes in the No Room. Yup, the one casualty of the pack out seems to be the two pairs of shoes I meant to put in my suitcase. Until the mall trip on Sunday, I only had flip flops to my name.

- We are now in the Residence Inn, where we've been through the weekend. We fly to Houston tomorrow, where the kids and I will hang out with our wonderful friends we met in Strathmeade. N will have meetings during the day but will be joining us for dinner. On Thursday we fly to the Guad.

- Jenny came by to pick up her newly strung guitar and some bins she'll be holding in storage for us. I cried when she drove away. :( I love our friends and this place so much.