Moving Amnesia

Similar to pregnancy amnesia, this phenomena entails forgetting what a complete ass-pain moving a large family across the country is. I have moved over a dozen times to multiple states and countries, and yet it always seems like the inane bullshit that goes along with moving all of the crap you have accumulated from all of the amazing places you have lived is completely brand new. For example, yesterday the movers did not show. I spent the entire morning on the phone with various offices at State and the moving company itself...come to find out someone had entered the date incorrectly (it might have been caught if I had, you know, received my TO before Monday morning - which I had to call back to State to get since they didn't bother to send it to me), and the movers weren't planning to come until the 17th. The problem: Our pack out is a two-day job (hey, we have a lot of kids), and we need to be out of the house on the 18th. So I need time to reorganize all of the crap we're loading in the car and clean the entire house before we turn over the keys. After a lot of headache and extra stress, the movers showed up yesterday at about 2pm. They packed up about 1/2 the house and returned this morning to finish the job. I have a feeling it is going to be a very late night for us :( On the plus side, the movers themselves are great and seem very nice and competent, so at least we have that going for us!

I have to say, this has not been a good intro to moving as an FSO. My travel admin has been completely unresponsive and unhelpful and was, in fact, very, very rude the one time I actually managed to get her on the phone. I had to call the main office several times and instruct them not to patch me through to her but to find someone else to answer my questions. Since our next move will likely be in less than a year and to a much farther location, I do not have high hopes that it will be a good experience. But, who knows, I have been known to be wrong a time a two.


In other moving news, today is my last day at work (only a couple of hours to do my out-brief and sign some paperwork, turn in my badge, etc.). We pick up the rental car tomorrow (we rented a mini-van for the drive since I already sold my car; Husband will drive his own vehicle loaded up with crap) and check into our hotel tonight. Tomorrow consists of house cleaning and check-out, and spending our last few precious moments at the beach. We are bringing our boards and other beach gear with us in spite of our new close quarters, and I envision many weekends exploring the East Coast beaches in our future!