Expat Chronicles: It's Happening!
On Easter Sunday it happened - we received an offer for our house! Then ensued over a week of negotiations, which finally culminated in a purchase agreement and the heady realization: we can move.
We’ve been working toward this for quite some time, but always in hope, never in actuality. To transition from “we hope” to “we are” was not a quick mental shift. There was no screaming and jumping up and down. I didn’t phone my family or friends right away. It all seemed so solemn and final and unreal.
by Marnee Wohlfert @inpursuitofbeauty
My first job was to prepare my business for moving. At the time the offer for our house was finalized, we had about 4 weeks until moving day. I focused on completing customer quilts and then quilting my last two quilts: Gypsy Wife and Cross Roads.
basting my final quilt
It was strange. We were moving mentally forward into the move, but there were no signs of it at home. My time was still allocated “business as usual” with extra hours thrown in as I tried to get ahead with planning projects and events for Stitched in Color in May, June and July.
Then we started packing. Oh, packing! This time moving feels so different. When I squirrel things away in boxes, I can hardly believe I’ll open these boxes someday in a new home in the Netherlands. Perhaps that’s because I can’t envision that home. We won’t be able to shop for our home until we’re there, so it feels like a big question mark. It is another layer of uncertainty in a layer cake of possible outcomes.
Layer by layer, the future falls into place.
Today our moving day is just a week away. Sometimes I feel ahead of schedule on packing; other times, I remember all the little things that must be done before we move and feel the opposite. We still have to sell our cars, finish selling furniture, prepare the kid’s school records, provide the shipping company with documentation and wrap up so many, many financial details.
But I know it will all happen. Between now and next week, it will all come to pass in one version or another. I know this with my head, but my heart is somewhere else. In shock? I feel numb, like I’m watching this move happening, in amazement, in anticipation and with sadness too. So many goodbyes. So many changes. So many brave steps into the bright, unknown future.
So we say goodbye to our wonderful life here, our blessed-to-overfilling life here. And we say hello to the future.
