Well, first of all I have to say a word about Chris, from UPACKWESHIP, I don't think we could have pulled this off without his customer service. If any of you ever move overseas, google his company and you won't regret it! I must have called him tons of times about the most ridiculous questions that popped up in my head. But enough advertising, ha, ha. (I still want to mention the warm good-bye from all my friends, but will do that another day)
Getting rid of the furniture and big items wasn't the biggest problem. Sorting through years and years of belongings, papers, school mementos of the girls, photos, birthday cards, etc. took us ten times longer than we had anticipated. At some point we just had to speed sort and if we had any doubts about keeping something, we decided to junk it. We really ended up with the bare minimum of stuff: 47 BOXES!!!!
Bare minimum you might think..... well, I have to admit some things I just couldn't part from, like the cast handprint of my preemie daughter Laura, just too incredible was the size of her little hand. Or the oval dinner plates I bought in St. George (Staten Island) together with my father in law. At a restaurant consigment store for about a buck a piece!! Or the box full of original documents from Ellis Island, from turn of the past century, when most of Peter's ancestors immigrated from Italy. Have to frame a few of them!!!!
Or the quilt I sewed over ten years ago but never finished up. It already made its way back and forth over the Atlantic Ocean twice.
Yes, Laura's shoulders are kind of slumping, the thought of leaving her best friend and everything she has ever known behind was hard to take for her at times. She has handled the change very well though and makes me very, very proud because of her gentle and caring nature.
The girls sleeping their last night in our house.
The very next morning we had to be at closing at 10 am and only with the help of our dear neighbor Robert were we able to pull this off and clean out the house in time. Thanks!
This is us trying to look relaxed and confident, even though we worked the night through, totally exhausted and feeling emotionally drained, only kind of ready to sign our house over to new owners.
Oh, now here is the really hard part: Saying good-bye to my daughters best friends. Just looking at these pictures makes me choke up and wish there would have been another way. Chancey is Laura and Natalie's oldest/longest friend and the brother they've never had, loyal and kind, funny and smart, just a great kid to see my girls spend time with. Kelli and Paige are the two sweetest friends anybody could hope for and I can't even think of words to describe how much we miss them.
May the future be bright and exciting for all of you and may the friendship you've shared with each other strengthen you for the life ahead. I so hope that we will see everyone again soon.
At Cracker-Barrell we had our last batch of pancakes with my niece Morgan and nephew Michael before we headed north on April 16th, to leave the last 10 years behind and head into the once known and fanilier but now rather uncertain destination Germany. Wohoo, what a stormy good-bye roadtrip it was!!!
I will never forget the funnels, hail and devastation :(
One thing is for sure, the United States sure know how to leave a lasting impression!
Once we made it to NewYork alive the few plane rides didn't seem that much of a deal anymore. Even Laura said after airport hopping of 20 some hours "this was actually not that long of a trip". She even said that she enjoyed the trip, even though she trew up in every plane and on every airport! I was close to run out of items of clothing and wipes....
dinner at JFK, last Burger King Fries in the US
Laura was wiped out from all that vomiting and had to rest in London.
What some Coke and Pretzels can do for an upset stomach :)
To be continued ....
I've been waiting {not so patiently} for an update here. LOVE hearing of the details I missed. What a precious picture of our girls. Missing you, and thanking God our paths crossed...even for a short time. Keep posting!!!
ReplyDelete