Packing

I spent the day today packing. It's depressing. Really depressing. I really am not eager to leave our relatively carefree lifesetyle here. In some ways, this experience has felt like an extended vacation, and the thought of going back to our "real lives" is a little daunting.

Enough about that, though. I should say that this packing job is a million times easier than the one we did before moving over here. That go round, I had to pack up an entire house. To complicate matters, I had to decide, with respect to each and every item we owned, whether it was going (1) on the plane with us, (2) in our "quick" shipment over here, (3) in our longer-term shipment over here, or finally, (4) into permanent storage. We brought about 5000 lbs of "stuff" over here with us. Shockingly, we have another 13,000 or so pounds of I can't even imagine what, in a warehouse off of I-65 in Nashville. Honestly, the thought of getting all of those boxes and having to sort through them is more than I can stomach. I try not to think about it.

One of the liberating things about this experience has been realizing that we can get along with a fraction of our belongings. Rather than having a million duplicates of so many things, we have one set of measuring cups, two or three mixing spoons, just a few casserole dishes, one set of dishes, just a few coffee mugs, most of our favorite photos, some of our favorite paintings, an adequate supply -- but not all -- of our clothes, and a few pieces of furniture (our government-provided house is also furnished by Uncle Sam). I really have no idea what in the world I'm going to do with all that other "stuff" in storage.

The good news is that I won't have to deal with it for at least another year. Our house in Nashville is being rented, and so we will be renting a house until next May or June. The house we're renting has a large basement that can accommodate all of our boxes from permanent storage, and so I plan to stick them down there and continue to live our relatively simplified lifestyle for another year. When we move back into our house, I guess I'll finally have to delve into all of those boxes. It will be interesting to do that more than two years after packing them.

With all this talk of simplicity, I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that I have turned my nose up at the thought of having worldly possessions. In fact, I should admit that although we've lived more simply than ever over here, we've also acquired some very nice things during our time here. Never having accumulated rugs, like so many folks do, we splurged while in Istanbul last October and bought not one, but two beautiful rugs. (State department folks often joke and say that one of the biggest benefits of being a Foreign Service Officer is being able to collect rugs from all over the world -- you should see how many rugs some of these folks have -- unbelievable!) Being a pottery lover, I've also filled our shelves with pottery from Turkey, Serbia, Hungary and other countries. We've also bought some beautiful paintings that we know we will cherish as reminders of this time overseas.

Tomorrow, I'll get back to the task of sorting, organizing and packing, all the while, I'm sure, pondering the meaning of life, and what lies ahead for us. Tonight, though, I think I'll go for a run and then come home and have a glass of wine. Hope you're all well.