It’s Monday, December 19th.  All of the final details of this move are finally falling into place. Here’s a summary of the highlights:

The House:

I think we have found renters.  There are a few formalities to wrap up, but so far it looks good.  We met them last week when they came back for a second look.  Nice people!  No kids, which is sad for the neighbor families but good for our house.  We should hear sometime very soon (like, today) if they are fully approved.

Fingers crossed.

 

 

My Motorcycle:

Over the weekend I finalized the sale of my oh-so-sweet motorcycle to a friend and neighbor, Dean Stultz. I’m happy it’s going to a good home and to an owner who I know will cherish it.

And ride it.

I must confess… all this past summer I never took it out of the garage once. I know.  Shameful.

I bought it four years ago, and that first summer I rode it constantly.  I drove it everywhere.  To work.  To the gym.  To the grocery store.  To church.   Cari and I went on dates with other couples who also owned bikes.  I took Tanner to baseball and Andi to youth activities. They loved it, and they beamed with pride and excitement when they got to ride.

That bike was like my long-lost twin brother… we had finally been reunited and now we were inseparable.  I was happy.

The next summer the novelty began to wear off.  And the summer after that, taking it out of the garage was a rare occasion.  And this past summer I just kept telling myself, “I’ll take it for a ride tomorrow.”  We had some great times, but he deserves to be owned by someone who will use him.

And selling the bike also had a serious upside…

 

Christmas:

Six days after Christmas, we’ll be boarding a plane to a small island.  And we can only bring with what we can carry in our luggage.  And we’ll be there for two years.  And oh, moving there is expensive.  And wow, living there is expensive.  And don’t forget, medical school is expensive too.  All of this presents some interesting dilemmas for Christmas.

1) What do we get for the kids that they can bring with to the island?
2) When it comes to money, we’ve had to spend lots of it recently.

Money: eBay and the motorcycle to the rescue.  We gathered up all of our household “stuff” that we thought might have value and listed it on eBay, everything from the alarm system on our old septic tank to our beautiful Mikasa Garden Harvest dinner wear set.

The Mikasa set was given to us by our old friends John and Gayle Marin as a wedding gift sixteen years ago.  They owned the entire collection, right down to matching place-mats and napkins, but had grown tired of it.  We have enjoyed it immensely over the past sixteen years, and now we’re ready to let someone else enjoy it, too.

Motorcycle: Sold
Household stuff: Sold
Christmas: Covered

 

Reality Check:

Yesterday I was sitting in Sunday School listening to Lori Houghton give her lesson.  Lori is a fantastic teacher, one of the best we’ve ever had.  Her lesson was from the Epistles of John and was on the subject of Love.  I began to look around at the people in the room, and it occurred to me how much I love these people.  We’ve been in the St. Cloud ward for fourteen years.  It has become home.   I will miss them all terribly.

And then, I think maybe for the first time every, I was hit with the weight of what we were doing.  Next Sunday is Christmas, our last Christmas and last Sunday in St. Cloud.  And the week after that we will attend church in St. Martin for the first time.

Wow.

I don’t know how to put into words how I felt.

Wow.

We’re doing this.  It’s real.  And it’s happening in less than two weeks.

Here we go…

Written on December 19th, 2011 , Everything Else

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