Diversion

This is for my wife, who is concerned that my blog is nothing but State Department recruiting propaganda.

We are two weeks and two days from our move and feeling the pressure.

This is my last week (and Sara’s last day) of work. It’s been especially busy here as I try to 1) document everything that I do, 2) prepare to train my replacement, and 3) offload many responsibilities to other people. And the busyness doesn’t end when I leave the office.

While we’re not allowed to pack any of our things (the movers handle that), we do have to separate our junk into things we want to have in D.C., and things that will be stored until we move to our first post. Our place in D.C. will be fully furnished, so we won’t need much more than clothes, toys, and a few things to remind us of home. The remainder of our personal effects will go into storage until we move to our first overseas post. At that point, we will designate some things to follow us quickly (weeks), some to follow slowly (months), and the rest to remain stored in the U.S.

We will be in Minnesota next week visiting family & friends and relieving my parents of boxes of who-knows-what they’ve stored for six years. I haven’t been up there in over a year so I’m excited for the trip, but wish it was a little longer.

Our pack-out is scheduled for two days after we get back from Minnesota, and we head out three days later.

We’ve been trying to divide our remaining time between preparing for the move and visiting with friends. This is definitely a bittersweet departure. Our time in Texas has been incredible, and we wouldn’t leave for anything less than the opportunity of a lifetime.