3 days

As of today, we have 3 days left until we board our flight and begin our life in Switzerland.

The past week has been busy and very productive.  The dogs flew out to Gordon's mom in Washington one week ago today.  That was a very difficult day for both Gordon and me, but the dogs are happy there and I am so relieved to see that.  I love that we are able to Skype with the dogs.  Seeing them and knowing they are happy makes me feel so much better about leaving them.

We are all moved out of our house.  Every single thing we own has been packed in boxes or suitcases, donated, sold, put in our storage unit, or moved over to my parents' house.  I had a very hard time deciding what to get rid of.  At the beginning of the packing process, I was reluctant to part with anything, but by now, I am much better.  I hope that I am able to keep myself from accumulating so many things when we live in Europe!  I know that we will have much more limited space, so that will help.

I cleaned the house top to bottom and got it ready for our tenants.  Our tenants completed their final walk-through with Gordon yesterday.  They'll move in this weekend.

We have our visas in hand and our airplane tickets have been purchased.  Our flight leaves at 8:05 p.m.  I hope that Claire will sleep through at least some of the flight.  But if not, we have our carry-on filled with toys and things to keep her busy throughout the flight.  Our flights are on British Airways and I thought it was funny when I called with a question and the man who helped me had a very thick southern American accent.  Ha!

Our containers that will be shipped to us are almost ready to go.  Gordon will take those tomorrow morning to be put on a boat destined for Switzerland.  Pirates, stay away!

Our suitcases have been packed and unpacked several times.  It is pretty difficult to decide what I can live without for 3 years and what I can't live without for a month.  Each day, I take more things out of my suitcases, realizing that I do not NEED them.  Yesterday, it was 3 bottles of perfume and 4 bottles of nail polish.  Those things are pretty heavy!

Packing all of our things and preparing for this adventure we are about to begin has me thinking about all of the adventures Gordon and I have had as a married couple.  In 5 and a half short years, a lot has happened!  It started with our wedding in Yosemite, which was the perfect beginning for the path on which life would take us.  The adventure continued with our move to Arizona shortly after our wedding.  Three years later, we were back in Chicagoland and we welcomed our gorgeous daughter into our family.  Now, we prepare for perhaps the biggest adventure of all.