Realization

We are so ready to be home and we are relieved that they are done cleaning! We do a walk through tomorrow to make sure everything is okay and up to our standards.

In our eagerness to be home there is also the realization at how much work it will be to settle back in. There are no clothes in the closets or drawers or bins, there are no sheets on the beds, and no curtains or blinds on the windows; there are no spices in the cupboards, no pasta or cereal or dried fruit or nuts or very many groceries at all. In fact, we will have a truck bringing back all of our clothing etc. and I will have to plan a major grocery shopping trip.

In many ways, it will be like returning from a very long, very disorganized, unexpected vacation except with clean clothes instead of dirty but nothing put away. We are debating how best to begin returning back to normal. There is a big part of us that would like to take time to de-junk and clean out a lot of stuff - clearly we don't need it since we've been fine without it. :) But there is another part of us that just wants to do that after we move back. We'll see what happens - probably some of both.

It's overwhelming to think about all of it. It's been such a challenging month and yet, we are so thankful for this time as a family and for the lower-key life that it has led to. Sometimes it's nice to have a break from the normal demands of home ownership. The kids have done remarkably well - we've definitely had our challenges but overall they have been troopers. The dog has also shown incredible amounts of flexibility and while we thought we might have to kennel her, she has done so well here with us.

We are looking forward to being on the other side of this adventure. I think it will be a few weeks before things really settle down again, though.