The Goat Rodeo

And so it began this morning, our journey into the unknown. Highlights have thus far included a week of sleepless nights sorting our worldly possessions into an innumerable number of piles - dump, keep, consignment, give-to-friends, charity, long-term storage, the ironically named "express shipment" and finally...household delivery. Paul and I are now encyclopedically familiar with the contents of our home. Discoveries have been made in every closet (yesterday I found the sheets from my crib that my mother lovingly stored in a box that I've never opened, until now. Soon the shams will be on Charlotte's bed. So no, it's not all bad).

This morning our piano was removed by a very nice crew and driven an hour to our friends' home in Maryland where it will get good use by their twin boys Oscar and Joe. Our kids are not so keen on the process. Charlotte returned from the park to discover the big hole where the lumbering instrument once stood. "Bring back my piano!" she demanded. Harry has been equally flabbergasted by the toy closet that is now empty, it's contents packed into boxes for early shipment. He thinks I'm throwing away his toys because there's no room in England.

While we have talked a lot to the kids about our pending move, we're not exactly sure how to handle tomorrow's invasion of movers. Harry has a play date, Charlotte has ballet, but there is no getting around the fact that the house will be swarmed by crews and trucks for the next five work days. Is it better for them to stay away and suddenly discover an empty house or become further accustomed to the vanishing act that is our furniture? Probably the latter. We'll see.