Departures …

Are you wondering why it has taken us a week to post another blog entry? Well, if you know either of us at all, then shame on you - you know better than to ask such questions.

No really, as it turns out among the myriad lessons we are learning on an hourly basis, one at the top is certainly “never assume a website is available.” In truth, we have been amazed at how many sites are, in fact, censored. While the social media sites were obvious, others such as our blog, Amazon purchasing, Hulu and YouTube were a bit of a surprise.

But Goonies never say die! So we’ve found some loopholes. Don’t ask questions, suspend disbelief with some post-dated entries and just enjoy.

Our one-way journey to China hit Hannah a few weeks before it hit John. Both during and after her academic years, Hannah made a point of “changing things up a bit” and making drastic “my car is packed and you won’t see me for 4 months” sort of moves. Therefore she was able to recognize the panic that sets in when you realize that you are proactively ending a chapter in your life. In other words – what comes next might be entirely your fault.

John’s travels have moved him around in a slightly tighter radius. Moving from Northville to East Lansing, then up to Ann Arbor and finally to Chicago. Each step was taken piece by piece, a little at a time, to really make sure it was the right move to take; sort of like strategically throwing a lot of stones on a frozen pond to make sure you won’t fall through when you start to run out.

And so today came the day when all of this would come together. MOVING DAY. As with many things in our lives, these process was a soup of invaluable contributions from each other, our beloved friends and family…and of course the nice man at the airport who helped us navigate how to get 9 bags and 2 slightly scared people out of a car and into a terminal.

Together we take what we know we can do because we’ve done it before, and we jump ahead with eyes wide open armed with…

• 7 (yes 7) checked suitcases, each of which could likely fit a person
• 6 Facebook posts (cumulative between us) to say good bye
• 5 teary phone calls to friends in other cities.
• a 4am wake up call
• 3 phone calls home to ensure loved ones that they do, indeed, have doctors and water and food in China
• 2 carry on bags

And one glorious champagne toast mid-air.

(It really deserves a song - insert “Fly Me To the Moon”)

For your viewing delight – we have included pictures of our packing accomplishment. And for those “packaging engineers” in our group…well…what do you have to say for yourselves NOW? :)