Starting to Sort

I know our move is right around the corner and I really want to sort through things sooner rather than later.

We've had some communication from the movers and they will come and pack and ship everything. It was explained that if we pack it ourselves, it won't be covered for insurance purchases. In theory, it sounds easy to have someone come to your house and have you point around for them to pack things up. But - I KNOW we don't want to take everything and so I'm working on making piles in the garage....
1 - THE MOTHER of all GARAGE SALES pile
2 - Items for storage. I don't need the kids memorabilia stuff for the next three years or some of our furniture stuff (it will be furnished)
3 - Items to ship.

I started with our under-the-stairs-storage. Now all that's in there are items to come with us. It feels great to whittle down the junk. I figure I'll take care of closets one by one and the garage will take several days alone. I plan to get rid of all the towels, sheets and bathroom decor and buy new stuff from Bed/Bath/Beyond before we leave - I first need to learn how many bathrooms we will have in the new house and what size beds we'll have. We plan to get rid of all the dishes too (I was ready for a new set). I'll also really pair down the kitchen stuff. I'm not sure why I have 6- 9x13 pyrex dishes??? I might have to do a two-weekend garage sale.

I will be having a conversation with the Property Manager tomorrow. The government contracts through a company called Dwellworks. I think it's just the initial call about our place. Our neighbors have friends who may be interested, but it all depends on timing.

So....we have to get the medical stuff completed (Brian is the last one with an appointment and that's this Friday and then it takes a week or two??? for lab work to be done) and it all gets sent to DC. So, I figure by the week of March 21st the medical will be done and the passports should be done.

Then when medical is done, our house can be acquired. Then I'll know.....
How furnished it is
What else I need to ship
How many bathrooms it has
What size are beds in the bedrooms

Then we will get a better idea of the EOD (forget what it stands for - estimated occupation date? estimated overseas deployment? effective occupancy date??) and we can work backwards from that. Depending on when he needs to be there will depend on...
when we leave
when the car ships
when our stuff ships
when we can rent our house

We have lists of different people that handle different things and as antsy as I am to just KNOW things, I understand that STUFF needs to happen before the information is available. So....every week I learn more and meanwhile I'm working on sorting and sorting and purging and sorting.

This is the biggest move I have ever done in 36 years of life and I'm trying to exercise enough to balance out the stress-eating. I KNOW people do this all the time - but I never had ANY clue how much is involved and how emotional it all is - I swing from excitement of a new adventure and curiousness about what awaits us to sadness for leaving friends, MY MOM and familiarity.

I remember when I left home to join the Air Force (about 6 months after graduating High School) and I was so excited for a new adventure. I was leaving home and family and friends and what I knew for the last 18 years but I wasn't looking back and I wasn't sad. I don't think I had any comprehension, at the time, that I would never return to what it was. I didn't realize it until much later that it's never the same after you leave home. Everybody goes their own way and even if I thought I would go back home, you never really do.

I think there's part of me now that understands that you can leave and never return. I think now that we will, but what if this new adventure leads us on a new path that doesn't circle back here? I think that's what makes me the saddest - what if this is it for this part of my life? What if in three years my dear friends have moved on somewhere else with their lives, what if we decide to move somewhere else, what if, what if, what if, what if.......

I've always believed that everything happens for a reason and things work out the way they are supposed to be and blah, blah, blah, blah - but that doesn't make it any easier to accept right now.