17 April 2009

Final Countdown

Well, Gary has been getting his stuff together for the movers. They come and pack all of his stuff up into 4 air freight shipping containers at 8:00 Saturday morning. Since his apartment is furnished, he is not gutting the house and I won't be left with empty rooms.

Since he is in an apartment, he does not have a garage to do woodworking in. He toyed with the idea of buying some tools while over there, but quickly decided upon looking at his living options that city life was going to be much more exciting than suburban living - thus scrapping the woodworking and lawn care.

This freed up his weekends to a frightening array of days with nothing to fill them with. If you know Gary at all, sitting around doing nothing is not an option - he would be nuts in just hours. Thus - the fact that he is moving to AUSTRALIA comes in to play and he started his pile - I call it his 'sanity pile'. He is working on moving most of his clothes, his toiletries, went 'shopping' through the kitchen last night - wantonly throwing stuff in a box, he has a stash in our sitting area of the bedroom: vitamins, bedding, pillows, just ... stuff. And I don't care a bit about any of it.

All I care about is his sanity pile. It contains: boogie boards, sand chairs, portable recliners (for the balcony and camping), backpacking gear, coolers, sleeping bags, tents, you know - stuff that will keep the guy sane on the weekends. When I get there in a couple of weeks I want to find a happy, sane Gary, not a Gary with wild eyes that has nothing to do with his free time.

His pile grew bigger after this photo, but I was too lazy to take another photo. The garage grew much cleaner after this photo also - as Gary decided to make the mover pack in there (it is air conditioned and they make a mess, so the mess won't be in my house). He actually vacuumed the entire thing last night and is going to mop it today (trying to get rid of all that sawdust). All ready for me to make it into my new craft room!

So, sadly in the photo - just his fun pile is going. He will be coming home for a week about every 6 weeks for a week of vacation and can play with his woodworking tools then.

So, how am I holding up with my husband moving to another country in exactly 2 days? I'm buying flowers:
They make me enormously happy, I get to take photographs of them, and these babies - are just so darn adorable they were impossible to pass up. They are little baby orchids - the pots they are in are about 2 inches high (can't tell from the photo the size, I know). They are sitting on my desk as I type making me smile.


But - plan on a bit of craziness (I know, big shock). I will be going to see him - but this time seems so ... final. He is really moving and I hope we can do this as smoothly as possible for Gary, me, Ryan and Jessie. I know I will be having a hard time at first, but it will get better.

I leave on May 1st to go 'live' there for 2 weeks. Hopefully he will have the Internet connection up and running - cause I don't need a pile of crap to stay sane ... but I DEFINITELY need the Internet!

5 comments:

Andrea Dent said...

Oh Lori, we will be thinking of you this weekend! What an adventure! I'm excited for you to go over and "live" for a few weeks here and there too! Your family is in our prayers, as I'm sure it is going to be hard at first. You're amazing!

Laura said...

I'm glad Gary has his toys to keep him sane, too.

This year is going to be so many things for your family. It will be hard. It will be exciting. It will be full of fun and adventure. It will be full of lonely times. Remember we will be here for you through all of those times! We'll read your blog, admire your photographs, and warn you if we think you're losing it. We'll do whatever you need us to do - just let us know.

Shel said...

Ditto to Annie and Laura's comments.. they said it well! I pray things will go smoothly for your family, but at the same time be a fun filled adventure for you. You are right, he better have that internet up, not just for your sanity, but for us, we need your updates and pictures ;) Stay positive and know we are all here for you... Always!

Court said...

Ditto, ditto, and ditto!

And good for you buying baby orchids for your desk. I love flowers, too. They bring us joy and add variety to our lives. I put a planter outside my kitchen window--it makes me very happy.

Jennifer said...

You are right - it seems a little more final when you wrote about it this time, too. I hope the new "normal" rolls around real fast. And that flowers stay on sale permanently.