All The Small Things

You would think if someone knew for months and months that they would be moving to China, they would begin all the steps of settling bills and alerting the right people months in advance…so it would all be done well before the actual move. You would think that they would begin packing a few days in advance, so they could evaluate what could be left and what must be packed.

You would think—but in my case—you would be wrong. Yes, I waited until today to begin packing. Yes, I waited till today to pay a few final bills. Yes, I waited until today to import all of my cds onto iTunes. Yes, I waited till today to make copies of my passport and visa and airline tickets. I waited till today to buy a year’s supply of contacts from WalMart, and to buy travel size shampoo and batteries for my camera. I waited till today to sort through the Teaching materials that I wanted to bring. I waited till today to call a few friends to say goodbye.

Needless to say, it’s been a long day! But, it’s all done as well as could be for last minute prep. I’m incredibly grateful to Dee and Tim for helping me stay calm and forcing me to actually pack! I’m incredibly grateful to my mom for agreeing to follow-up on all the items I couldn’t get to! What a mess.

But now I’m here in Nashville, where mom and I are spending the night before tomorrow’s flight. No doubt, things were forgotten. And, if my bags get opened in customs, I’m not sure that they’ll ever close again! (For the record, Space Bags are AMAZING! They really do shrink your stuff down to a fourth of the original size!)

Tomorrow I fly from Nashville (at 1:15 p.m.) to Atlanta to LA to Guangzhou, China to Wuhan! I think it will be late Saturday night here when I arrive in Wuhan—which will be midday Sunday there! I’m not sure how many hours in the air it will all add up to—all I know is that it’s about a 15 hour flight from LA to Guangzhou.

The next time I update, I WILL BE LIVING IN CHINA!!!!

This blows my mind.