Move to California Update-We Made it...Sort of

 Hi all!  If you have been following me for a bit you know that we just made a big move from Maryland to California.  Why?  The hubs job.  Its exciting for us in so many ways because we have family here, and the weather is fantastic.  The downside?  Moving in a pandemic.

The semi in front of our house...

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Ok so from the beginning, this move came on suddenly.  I had flown out to California for my Grandmothers funeral in September, and it wasn't even on the radar.  We were busily planning my son's Halloween birthday, and just getting through virtual school.  

Then BAM.  You can read that whole story here.

The nursery where all of my babies slept

Fast forward a stressful couple of weeks, and the movers came.  We had been prepping as much as possible (I sold a lot of furniture, and donated a lot of stuff), but we really had no time to adequately prepare.  

You can read about the move week here.

Fast forward to today, and it is time for an update.

The movers came, and it was weird.  We have done two cross country moves before with the Navy, so I am pretty familiar with the process.  This time, with the kids and COVID, it was totally different.  I had planned to keep the kids outside while I oversaw the packing (and the inventory) of our stuff.  The weather did not cooperate, and I had everyone (even the pets) crammed into one room.  

I called mayday and we got our hotel room one day early.  It was a mixed blessing because had I known it was our last night in the house, I think I would have been very sad. I wasn't expecting it, so it was a nice, relaxed night.  Because I wasn't prepared, I didn't bring everything I intended to bring.  

That meant that I really couldn't oversee the packing and inventory.  Why does that matter?  Well, stuff breaks during the move.  Always, it just happens.  When they inventory your stuff, if you don't pay very close attention, they will often mark things as damaged (that aren't) and then when they break, they aren't responsible for them.  The inventory is crucial.  I had to sort of hope for the best, and rely on the pictures and video I took before they came.

They picked up our cars, we let the kids say goodbye to their alley friends, and we hunkered down in the hotel for the next couple of days. We said a lot of goodbyes.  I have to admit that I didn't say as many as I intended to, especially to our immediate neighbors.  I will get back to that.

Kids living their best hotel life

The movers had everything on the truck, and the hubs and I did a last walk through to check for damage, and to just look at our home.  It was a lot.  I start to cry just typing this.  Looking at the home where we had been so happy, where we had all three of our babies, and spent the bulk of our marriage was overwhelming.  The poor moving driver looked at me like I had three heads while I was crying.  I bailed to meet a friend, and didn't realize that it would be the last time I was in our house.  But it needed to be.  

The kids didn't need to see me crying over and over.  It is hard, and they need to see that its ok to feel sad, and see me pick up and move on. Just trying to keep the ship sailing as happily as possible, in the midst of a lot of sad goodbyes.

I never went back.  I never said goodbye to some very special people that I should have said goodbye to.  You know who you are, and I am sorry.  Every time I saw anyone, everyone cried, and it hurts.  I miss you all so much, and right now I miss our home desperately.  (But right now I am sitting in a crappy hotel room LOL).

I think this was the last picture I took.  This is the view from our bedroom into the nursery.

I think this post is already crazy long.  The next one will be about hotel life, and the silliness that has gone on with that.  

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