Home of the free and the jetlagged
March 16, 2008 at 21:37 We arrived Friday night and have spent the last two days with friends, eating, drinking, cleaning, and shopping--getting everything ready for the arrival of our household goods tomorrow morning. It's been eight weeks since our life was taped into boxes and nailed into crates and sent on its journey.
Some of you will remember we bought our new house during a whirlwind week last July, and I hadn't seen it since. In the last six months, there have been moments when I wondered if it we'd made the right choice, if it would call to me the way it had the first time I saw it, if it would be a good place for us.
When we pulled up yesterday, it was a strange feeling as reality met memory, photos of rooms became the rooms themselves. Some rooms seemed darker, others brighter, the colors were different and some were a complete surprise (why didn't I notice the guest room had blue green carpet and pale green walls?). The former owners used a variety of colors in the different rooms, none of them offensive, but I know we'll be painting to bring visual unity to the spaces. Some of the best discoveries: there's more storage than I remembered, the kitchen is bigger than I recalled, and the hardwood floors throughout the house are pristine and beautiful.
I wandered through the rooms tackling practical tasks like planning furniture placement and future improvements while also dreaming of how the spaces would feel once we fully inhabited them, imagining where my favorite corners would be, how the light would move through the house each day, where my art would hang.
While we'd paid to have the floors and bathrooms cleaned in preparation for our arrival, the inside of the kitchen cabinets, the pantry, and the wood work all required hours of attention. The decks were swept yet again and plans laid to refesh the garage.
Tomorrow we move in and begin the process of making the space our own. There's a wet bar in the family room that I'm turning into an art studio, and I can hardly wait to unpack all my supplies and entertain my collage and stamp Muse.
However, in between unpacking boxes and setting up rooms, I have to register the kids for school, evaluate cell phone plans, set up Internet access, and help my kids adjust to life in a world dramatically different than the one they left behind.
I'll be blogging as I can. Check back often. Thanks for all the warm wishes.
March 16, 2008
Reader Comments (17)
In spite of the jetlag it sounds like you had a smooth voyage.
You may feel somewhat 'in between continents' for a while, but moving into the home you picked yourself will make the transition that much easier.
Europe misses you.
Prayers going up for you daily.