Preparations

So, getting ready for moving comes with certain tasks. Especially when you move to another continent. And boy, you'd rather do it thoroughly. I am not new to this kind of business, I once went to live in Brussels. Dawe has gained similar experience as well by moving to Istanbul previously. So by now we are pretty confident to say that moving to a distant country  is a very similar process as to preparing for death. 

We started to get our things settled in our home country. And it was a surprisingly big amount of work that finally eat up 2-3 months before we left. I am confident to say that my life was quite organized anyway, yet I spent at least 2-3 week net mostly on the process. And this was exclusively only closing down all our things/issues we would leave behind. Basically, this was the time I was behind schedule and the things that should have been done earlier.

The preparation in itself was quite a worthy experience, and it is also a very nice red flag about not wishing sudden death for myself ever.

I think it's safe to say that most of us live under piles of undone tasks, and from time to time it is very nice to slow down and focus on closing up. Get your medical checks. Reduce the number of things you have. Update, refresh, shred, repair. Even if you are not really moving - your life will be much easier after that experience.

So I started with the physical things. I lived in an apartment with my husband and the challenge was to get everything reduced to 23 kg (two times) - the size of our luggage to the USA.

I realized how much unnecessary stuff we have accumulated since - well since I don't know when. How I am surrounded by things that I don't really use or prefer, but happened to be around. Clothes I don't really wear and books I've read and probably won't do again anytime soon. Files that are not relevant anymore. Not to mention the digital clutter one accumulates over the years. Terrabytes of documents I haven't opened or read. Tons of pictures about the very same sunset from 2 years ago. The docs you need to scan and the ones you need to delete.

And the physical part of getting ready means more than just sorting out various objects in the apartment. It also means the repairment to do in the flat before you pass it on. To paint that ugly coffee spot in the wall and finally call the plumber to repair the tap in the kitchen.

Most important part of the material dimension is, of course, your very body - and the zillion medical examination to which you go before moving to a country with bad health care reputation.

I also purchased a smaller pharmacy to get prepared for everything - so now I feel supplied to conduct an open bypass operation on Dawe if he happens to have a heart attack.

And as you move the things in the outside, your inside reflects upon it. You assess what you've done good or bad in your friendships and to your loved ones. You try to make it up for the mistakes.

Both Dawe and I agreed that our adventure should not give the impression that we burn our bridges behind us. Instead, we want our friends and family to feel that the bridge is there  - so they can cross it whenever they need support or fun or anything. That we are available and ready to help. And so we can cross it back as well anytime we need them. They will form a social net underneath us and stop us falling into a black hole of emotions.

Understanding the importance of our social net became especially profound, as in the weeks leading up to our move we realized that our social life will inevitably change. I know that distance is going to have its toll on my relationships in some way, we cannot block that out.

Additionally, I am also quite aware that by the time we're back, almost nothing in our life will be the same. We cannot continue where we left. And the reason of that is just partly because our friends and family might change. It is true, they might. Some of them will and some of them won't. But we will certainly change as well. That other country will turn us to someone else, someone we don't know yet. Someone that our friends and family don't know yet. Better to get prepared at the beginning - consider this as a disclaimer :)

After all, - besides the obvious optimistic reasons- that's the point of the whole moving: to discover that piece of ourselves which is not yet an integrated part. To meet and embrace the fears, anxiety and all those less fancy parts. And only that other country will bring up these inner shadows to the surface.

In the meanwhile of this thinking, you realize how little is enough to start freshly somewhere else: it takes 23 kg. 

(Or 50.7 pounds as we left the SI universe behind as well).

Photo: Aer Lingus