PACKING THOSE TRUNKS

Passport Photos
(hubby must have done his
separately, in a hurry!)

Dearest Friends,

OK, I'm sure you must have realized that, though I ended my last post with a blithe "so we loaded up our trunks and we moved to Indonesia", it was a bit more complicated than that!  There were passports to be obtained, physicals and immunizations to be had, inventories to be taken, packing to be done, a house to be sold, stuff to be put into storage, stuff to be purchased, a dog who had to travel separately from us, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!  I dreaded all those shots and blood-work more than anything -- not for myself this time, but for the sake of my poor kids.  I fully expected screaming hissy fits, but neither of them even cried!

They needed my husband in Indonesia a.s.a.p., to train with the fellow he'd be replacing.  So, he went on ahead of us, but swore he would be back for the final pack-up, and to make the journey over with the kids and I.  I wasn't crazy about having to deal with everything else on my own, but at least this way he could be my eyes and ears, send photos, and give me a better idea of what to expect.  If only we'd had e-mail and Skype back then!

Despite its teal blue walls, that house sold faster than any before or since.  It was gone in three days.  The houses in Indonesia came with furniture, so a lot of our stuff would go into storage.  My job was to figure out what needed to go into our small air freight shipment, what could go by sea, and what needed to go with us on the plane.  Plus, I needed separate inventories for each part, including all the stuff going into storage, with estimated values for every single item.  I thought it was a nightmare the first time we went over, when we hardly had any possessions.  Imagine it fifteen years later, with two kids, and a four-bedroom-houseful of toys and gee-gaws.  It was enough to make you change your mind about going!

John was calling constantly with his ideas for things I should buy and add to the shipments, and our friends who were already there sent suggestions as well: Christmas and birthday presents for my own kids, plus extra gifts to take to any birthday parties they might be invited to (it was such a small school, they were friends with kids of all ages, and got invited to just about all the parties); gift wrap and party decorations; birthday, Christmas, and greeting cards for all occasions; cake pans for making birthday cakes; school and craft supplies; clothes and underwear to last all of us for a year, etc.  It was mind boggling!  One lady even suggested that I should bring a year's worth of toilet paper, but I chose to ignore that recommendation.  My hiney's just not all that picky.

My friend Karen thought I'd lost my mind, and could not for the life of her understand why I would leave my great friends, job, church, and neighborhood to go off and live in the jungle somewhere, but she showed up at the house early one morning, and spent the whole day helping me take inventory.  Her hubby had enough frequent flier miles accumulated for them to take a trip to Europe or anywhere they wanted, but she wasn't stepping foot out of the good ol' U.S. of A!  "Why would I want to go someplace where they don't even like Americans?"  I told her I would miss them all terribly, "but just think of all of the great places we can travel to from Indonesia, and the things we will be able to introduce our kids to!"  The only thing I hadn't really liked about Midland was how lily white our school, church and neighborhood had been.  Now we could finally expose our kids to the wondrous diversity that is our amazing planet.  What an education they would receive!  She still didn't get it, but then, she was adventurous in many ways that I was not.  You're sure never gonna catch me skiing down a mountain, or rollerblading off of ramps with all the teen boys in the neighborhood!