Photo by Etienne Girardet via Unsplash.com

While my house looks perfectly tidy on the outside, except for a few weeds, the inside is a complete disaster.

It’s been over a month since I last posted. And for five weeks my husband and I have been emptying our house. Do you know how much stuff you can accumulate when you’ve declared, “I’m never moving again!”? And yet, here we are. (I’ve learned my lesson.) The only mental break I’ve had from it was the morning of my rheumatology appointment.

And yet in all of this slog, (which isn’t over yet), there have been some distinctly joyful side effects.

New Friends:

It’s a little bittersweet to make new friends just as we are leaving. However, technology will easily allow us to keep in touch, and both couples have been invited to visit us in Albania.

We met the first couple because Dan answered their Facebook post requesting a bed. These ladies were preparing to foster a medically fragile baby. We were happy to donate one of ours to such a worthy cause. Win-win. And that was the start of a wonderful friendship. They’ve since purchased some of our things, like one of Dan’s motorcycles. And we’ve had dinner together twice.

The other is a neighbor whose son needed some things to move into his own place. She and her wife are already planning a trip to Italy to visit family. It’s just an hour long plane ride to Albania from there.

Helping a Victim of Hurricane Helene:

Through one set of new friends, we became aware of a woman who lost her entire sewing room in the hurricane. It was literally ripped off the side of her house. Quilting was a way she had supplemented the family income. So I just donated the entire contents of my sewing room to her. I was so glad to see my sewing machines, fabric, and notions going to someone who will truly appreciate it.

Other Tasks Necessary to Complete Our Move

Next Monday we are renting a U-Haul to move some items to Charlotte for step-daughter #1
On Tuesday we will be shipping our car to step-daughter #2
Ship one motorbike - a Vespa - to Italy where Dan can pick it up and ride it to Albania. It will be our primary transportation, at least for awhile.
Dan needs to get an international drivers license - not for Albania, but for Italy.
Get Valentino medically certified to travel through the EU.