Halfway House

The movers came on Wednesday and took all of our belongings with them in a large shipping container, which will be loaded onto a ship within the next few days and then make its way to Amsterdam.

We weren’t quite as ready as we’d thought and so had quite a lot of packing to do on the day of the move itself. Once the move was over, we also had to spend quite a lot of time getting our last few belongings into bags, ready to take onto the plane. We also had to clean up around the house, in preparation for the next tenant.

All of this work meant that we didn’t actually leave the old house until just before 18:00, at which time we drove to Palo Alto and checked into a hotel for two nights.

We spent that evening with Matt, Randie and their four lovely children, the most recent addition to whom resembles a four month old sumo wrestler.

Today was much more relaxed. I had to pop into Google to send a fax, then Sarah and I ran a last few errands: new trousers for me, dummies (pacifiers in American) for Wiesje for take-off and landing, and a quick visit to Stanford Shopping Mall to return a few items, followed by one last milkshake at the Creamery.

We had dinner at the hotel tonight, and how pleasant it was not to have to either drive or walk somewhere. Geoff turned up later in the evening for coffee, cookies and some lively discussion.

In a few hours, we’ll close our bags, load the car and make our way to San Francisco airport. Twenty-four hours from now, we’ll have embarked on the next exciting chapter of our life and be living in Amsterdam. It’s hard to believe this day has finally come.

Although it’s returning home for me, it’s still a daunting prospect. How much will Amsterdam and The Netherlands have changed? How much have I changed? How will Sarah experience living in this new country? How easy will the adjustment to a completely new lifestyle and environment be?

The coming months will provide answers to these questions. Success is not assured, but we have every reason to be optimistic. It would be foolhardy, however, to ignore the fact that a large effort will be required on our part to readjust and help each other settle in. Plus we have a new daughter who needs a lot of love from us.

Sarah and I are very excited to find out what the future holds for us. We’re reinventing our lives and it’s going to be fascinating to see where the combination of our efforts and happenstance carry us.

And now to bed.