We are well in the middle of packing. The apartment is littered with boxes, and random things are on the floor. Last night, we mourned the fact that we won’t have a clean home again for a long time. Now we must be in a state of chaos for a while. First, we’ll be living somewhat temporarily in my parent’s house. Then we’ll finally get Visas and head to Australia. We’ll living in temporary corporate housing for a few weeks. Then finally we’ll move to a more permanent home. Hopefully, we’ll then get all the goods that we’ll ship over there.

In the mean time, I’m packing up things we won’t be using for two years. It didn’t take long to pack up our books. They fit in about eight small U-Haul boxes. I’ll miss them, but most of them can be gotten from the library. And some are on the Web. But I cried as I put my crystal glasses in a box (with lots of cushioning). I didn’t feel like doing all the china last night, too. It’s so hard to say “good-bye,” even though I know we’ll see this stuff again.

I do not have much experience with packing. When I went to college, I took my suitcase out in a two-door Nissan. Then I supplemented what I forgot with my frequent trips home, every six months. I had to move my apartment a few times. When I needed too, I just waited until moving day and took frequent trips in the car I was borrowing. I don’t think I ever got boxes to move things.

When it was time to return home from college, I waited until the day after graduation when my parents showed up with the huge conversion van. It took a while to fill it up with my stuff. It was packed to the gills. But again, I don’t think I did fill boxes. Most things were loose in plastic bags. I was more concerned with finishing cleaning the apartment to pass my cleaning check.

When I got married, I again did multiple trips by small car to move my things in to my husband-to-be’s apartment over the course of a few weeks. It took a while. But it got moved in.

This time, it’s different. We’ve already taken down one four-door car full of stuff. It’s amazing at how little fit in the car. Then yesterday we took down a van load. Maybe another car or van on Friday, and then next Saturday, we’ll take 17 foot moving van. Most things will go in to storage. But, as my husband points out, maybe it will be very nice to not be tied down to material goods.

I guess we’ll see.