Home Sweet Seattle

I am in Seattle right now, at Tully’s Coffee using their free Wi-Fi to blog. I’m pretty sure this is the pinnacle of my coolness in life, so I’m glad that I’m able to document it this way. I enjoyed a gingerbread latte (decaf of course), chatted with other Internet users, and explained to two older gentleman the general concept of Wi-Fi. If this cafe is an accurate representation of the level of friendliness of Seattleites, I'll be very pleased.

Because I have a few minutes, and you may be curious (or just passing time like I am), I’ll give you the skinny on how our week of corporate relo went. On Monday, two packers showed up to start boxing our goods. One looked like Steven Tyler; she was a very nice lady. Before they came, we were instructed not to touch anything in the house. (I assumed an exception to picking up underwear on the bedroom floor.) In a process that can only be described as miraculous, they wrapped and boxed every single item in our house at warp speed while we watched in awe. It took them two days for some reason -- even though they only worked 4 hours the first day and 3 hours the second day. On Wednesday, a big 53' semi pulled up in front of our driveway. Two loaders and the driver put everything from our house in the truck, filling about 1/3 of it, I would guess. We were again amazed at the process, there was not an inch of empty air. "Any empty space is lost dollars," the one who resembled Jason Lee explained to me. (Yes, we had quite the collection of celebrity look-alikes helping us in this move. If there was beer on tap, I would have sworn our house was the new hot spot for impersonation contests in St. Louis.) Also on Wednesday, two flatbed trucks came and hauled away our cars to eventually meet us at our new home. Before they left, the drivers made notes on every single scratch on each car. And I mean every. single. scratch. If there was a 1/4" long graze on the center of the roof that didn't even get through the first layer of paint, these guys spotted it. It was actually kinda depressing, because before they went through it, I thought my car was in pretty good shape. By 3 pm, all the trucks had pulled away, and it was just me and DH in our empty home. We walked through one final time before leaving it forever. It was quite emotional for us, and a few tears were shed. But eventually DH pulled himself together. ;) On Thursday (yesterday) morning, we flew into Seattle. Despite the cramped 4+ hour plane ride, I suddenly wasn't ready to get off the aircraft when we landed. But one deep breath and a few steps later, and I was in Seattle. Yes, I live here now.

Now we wait. Our household goods will arrive on Wednesday the 14th, after visiting Indianapolis and Boise. Our cars will arrive about a week after that. (We have rentals in the meantime, of course. This makes navigating more difficult, because the cars have Washington plates. Our Missouri tags would have been helpful to announce to fellow drivers: "I have absolutely no clue where I am going, and I am going to cut you off at some point. Sorry.") We have a to-do list to keep us busy while our worldly belongings migrate across the country. And one of DH's best friends from college has a business meeting in Seattle next week (he lives in San Diego), so he and his girlfriend are flying up early to spend the weekend here. It will be great to see him and start exploring the city. A familiar face in the midst of upheaval, and one seen far too infrequently, at that.

And in other bits of news, DH started his new position today. I miss him already, I'd gotten used to spending my days with him. I don't start work again until the 26th, after Thanksgiving, to give me some time to set up home and office. I also booked Evey dog's flight to Seattle. She'll be joining us next Saturday the 17th. I can't wait!! Eight more days. It is PRICEY to get her here, good lord. But worth it -- at one cent per tail wag, she'd make it up in a few hours. Another important agenda item: visiting the birthing centers at local hospitals and setting up meetings to "interview" OB/GYNs. There is a major hospital about 2 miles from our place, but we've heard some negative reviews of the birthing center staff. Apparently they are not always responsive to the laboring woman. As someone who plans to ask for her epidural at around 8 months pregnant, just to be prepared, this does not appeal to me. So the search continues.

Oh, and just in case you are wondering. Yes, it's raining. But the sun is peaking through in spots, and there is a rainbow. I think we'll be just fine.