For all of those who asked...ROLL all the way. Now the hard part, is that when you then create all that lovely space in your suitcase, and you fill it will the odd bits of packing that don't fit anywhere else, your suitcase will weigh more than 2 stone 8 lbs. I know this because the night before we left, we stayed at our dear friends the Cruickshanks. They were off in France and we were frantically trying to off-load the last of our furniture..all of which went to good homes...and do all of our last minute stuff before returning home. The house was a godsend and we were weighing our luggage the night before so we didn't have the horrible moment at the airport of realizing 1 bag was overweight and trying to repack on the floors at the check-in counter. Their scale is in stone. So is the one at the gym, so apparently this is still the common way to weigh your person, even though the airlines give the number as 23 kg for luggage. For us this is 50 lbs. So it is midnight, we have to leave at 4 am to have plenty of time at the airport...for anyone traveling through Heathrow..yes you need the whole 2 hours and then some...and we are weighing suitcases and translating it to Kg and lbs...my brain still hurts from that one! But we made it and with Frank's traveling good luck charm(really, his charming personality) got us upgraded the whole way home and arrived to the waiting arms and home of dear Christina, Eric and family. That too was a godsend as we collapsed in various states of exhaustion and delirium that night. The rest of the week was a whirlwind of getting Bridget off to her Freshman overnight, buying school supplies, moving over to the Zamberlin/Thomas house(there is only so much anyone can take of the Adam clan..so we spared Christina further despite her generous protests) and then starting school!!!
Finally on Tues night Aug. 31, 2010...we re-entered 7332 Keen Way N. Can I just say "there's no place like home". It felt great. We all ran room to room relishing the space. Of course, we have nothing in the house but the furniture, so we had to begin stocking. Can I tell you just how much fun it is to go to Costco when ALL of your cabinets are empty!!!
We have had some excitement with various broken appliances, but all-in-all our renters did a fine job of keeping the house in shape. Today was our first day all home and we began the "big dig" in our yard to shape it up a bit and managed to get through 1 of our storage areas as well. It is all coming together and I admit it is a bit fun. I feel like I've just played scrabble with our house(and life) and I got to throw in all the pieces and start over. We are hoping to maintain some of the new found "emptiness" and keep our life clutter free. I'll have to report back on that by Christmas to see if we are able to hold on to that!!! Pictures to follow, I have to update computers etc. But since everyone wanted to know about the packing...I thought I'd oblige.
Cheers to all who listened to me for the past year!
