Camping Out in Our House

We’re moving half across the planet back to the states from Japan. Second time we’ve made such a big move, but the first move since having our little one. Not at all the last move, although hopefully our last move THIS big. Most of our stuff got boxed, crated and will soon be on it’s way across the ocean. We’ll see it in 2 to 3 months. In the meantime we’re living our of luggage on temporary furniture with a few extra necessary items that will get air-crated to us.

Suppose the nice thing is being military there are means to make things easier. We have loaner furniture here and should have some back in the states. We have a few loaner items. I got day care for my toddler paid for yesterday during the packing. And we are certainly not alone in making these moves.

Lots of big changes ahead though. Luckily our dog and cat know the routine, not that our cat will enjoy the plane ride. Our toddler is a great traveler, but this will be her first move. Lots of new for her to adjust to and learn about. Empty house, new furniture, hotel rooms, new house, new people, and finally the joy of getting our stuff back.

Moving Again

So, I am a military spouse. This means that I have and will likely continue to move every 2 to 4 years. Actually this will be my 3rd move in the last 4 years, and we’ll do it again in another 2 years (and hopefully not less), and then likely in another 2 years.

There are nice things involved in moving. Seeing new places, I have after all spent the last almost 4 years in Japan because of the military. Meeting new people, which I think used to be more exciting when I was younger. My husband is in a small community, and ultimately the military is fairly small, so there’s always the joy of being near old friends again. We’ll be near a few good friends from tours past in a few months. Getting rid of junk, with each move I trim the old stuff both before and after the move. It’s hard to be hoarder and a military spouse.

And, there are some nice things about moving with the military. They do the packing and moving. There are resources in place for moves. We may be without stuff for several months, but will have loaner furniture in both places until our stuff gets to us. If we have a question, likely we know friends or others on the base we’re leaving or going to who have answers.

On the other hand… I have spent and will spend a lot of time in the coming months messing with the move. There are lots of logistics. Hotel reservations to make, kennels to book, as we’re driving part of the move I need to arrange a rental car, and so on. We need to retrieve the car we own in the states from storage, and see about buying a new one. I have already started the process of going through stuff, giving away, trashing and selling things. I have to figure out what we send in our smaller later shipment. And then there’s how to pack everything we may need for 60+ days into 5-6 suitcases. Making decisions on what we don’t need for that few month, what we do need. My husband does some of these logistics, especially some of the more official ones that are easier for him to do, but he’s got a job and often is too busy for smaller things, so…

Yeah, I will spent a lot of time in the coming months on moving stuff. Like today, we’re buying cheap (possibly used) dishes to use after our stuff leaves, bringing the needed paperwork to reserve the base hotel before we fly out, and I get to continue to hunt down answers to how to best retrieve that car from storage. Although first I should rescue the dog water from the soaked toddler, or perhaps that should be the other way around.

So, if I blog a bit less, know that between that and chasing a toddler and seeing the last of Japan… I’m busy moving on to the next place.