Know how when you leave for vacation you have a million things to wrap up before you leave? Multiply by ten and you’re ready for an international move!

Dennis and I were both lucky to be swamped with work right before we left, which was good for the bank account, but didn’t leave much time to prep for moving. I’ve basically been in task mode and running on adrenaline for the past month, so I was surprised when I didn’t break down in a pile of sobs during all our goodbyes. In fact, I was kind of proud of how well I held it together, save for a few goodbyes to the sisters.

(A goodbye barbeque in front of our place. We’re totally throwing another one of these when we get home. Only it’ll be a hello barbeque.)

Then I was on the phone with my mom last night (the day before our flight), and it hit. Toward the end of our conversations she said, “I’ll miss hearing your voice.” I had an “Oh, mom, we’ll talk all the time!” response all lined up, but nothing came out. “Did I lose you?” Nope. Line’s not breaking up… I am. I finally choked out some noise to let Mom know that our connection was just fine, I was just losing it. She stayed calm, and I pulled it together. We signed off, and I got back to packing.

Though we’re only planning to be gone for two years, it’s still goodbye. There is a sadness and loss to being away from all the people we know and love so much, and all we’ll miss of their lives in two years.

Thank God for Skype.