Four Weeks, Six Days, One Suitcase

We have 4 weeks and six days until we take that last flight, until we leave Akron, until we call Ettelbruck home. There's much to accomplish in that amount of time.

As I write this, five guys are packing everything we own, and I mean everything, and it will all be shipped to Luxembourg on Thursday. It's rather odd to have a bunch of strangers go through all your stuff. It's even weirder to realize everything we need to survive the next month and six days fits in the back of a rental car. If you see me wearing the same outfit more than once in the next month, you'll just have to get over it. I'm living out of one suitcase. If my posts have more typos and formatting issues than usual, it's because I'm writing them on my iPhone.

There's also all the loose ends to tie up, like making our wills. We'll have to get our last fix of those things we love like Swenson's cheeseburgers and Great Lakes Brewing Company.

We have to say goodbye to a lot of friends.

It's really easy to freak out. If I sit long enough dwelling on everything, I can get pretty agitated. What if they just packed something we'll need? What if the cats and dog go into a mental breakdown on the plane? What if something goes wrong with the new house and we can't move in right away? What if? What if? See? It doesn't take much.

The thing is though, I'm convinced this whole experience serves a purpose and that we are supposed to do this. I imagine it's not just to ride my bike in peace for three years. Whatever the reason, it's been made abundantly clear that we must take this journey. We've seen a divine hand even in the little things, like finding the last SUV on the rental lot that will fit all our luggage and pets when we drive to Detroit next month. On the big stuff, this intervention is far more obvious. For example, a buyer for our house came to our door even before we listed the house. I'm serious, they were actually on our doorstep. More on that later.

So, even as I sit here watching the movers take their umpteenth smoke break when they should be packing the kitchen, I'm not that freaked out (at least not as much as I think I should be).

Everything is going according to plan, even when it doesn't feel like it is. In the end, we are going to be exactly where we're supposed to be and it will be just fine, probably better than fine. It won't be perfect, I'm not naive. However, I know we will be ok and our lives will be much improved from the experience.

Ok, have to make sure they didn't pack my husband; I haven't seen him in a while...