Several weeks ago, my husband showed me his pencil case that holds his hanko and asked me where he should put it in order to make sure it goes to Japan. I rolled my eyes and told him "put it in the Japan closet!" I was busy and preoccupied at the moment, not really paying attention. While preparing to move, I was putting everything we were taking with us in one closet to be as organized as possible. The items in the closet would be shipped to Japan via boat and take approximately two months to arrive. As the date rolled closer, I pulled out a suitcase and that's where I put everything that we would personally take to Japan (on the airplane). These locals gave me a sense of organization and is how I usually proceed with a big project.
Last Thursday, the movers came. I was a bit stressed and overwhelmed as it was also the day a friend was coming to do some landscaping and my husband was returning home from a business trip. It reminded me of when I used to coordinate events, with all the moving pieces culminating in this one big day. The movers arrived bright and early and got right to work. I handed my son the iPad and let him watch several episodes of PBSkids (a very rare treat) and I focused on making sure everything was running according to plan. At some point my husband called and checked to make sure I wasn't letting the movers pack our passports and "other important stuff." I replied "I've got it under control. The passport and our important papers files are in the suitcase, which we are taking to Japan. No worries." The day continued and ran pretty seamlessly.
Thursday evening my husband came home. Friday, we all got haircuts and then sold our car. Friday night, we were putting things in storage and organizing our suitcases that we would take to Japan when my husband suddenly stopped. "Where is my hanko?" he asked. It felt like time suddenly stopped. The hanko was in his pencil pouch... that was in the closet... that the movers packed... and was now headed on the slow boat to Japan. No! No! No! This couldn't be happening. I was amazed at his calmness. He started looking for phone numbers and I started making calls. We sent emails. We exhausted every avenue we could think of. But it was 9:00 pm on a Friday night! There wasn't much we could do. So, we went to bed, hugging each other and trying to convince one another that it would be okay - even though we both thought we were totally screwed.
Saturday morning came. We were leaving in just over 24 hours. We didn't say a lot. Neither of us were mad, just shocked and frustrated at the situation and miscommunication. I crept into the living room and tried calling the same numbers. He went outside and burned papers to make more room in the recycle bin. At 8:00 am, I left for the dump. I was practically in tears from the stress. What were we going to do? As I sat in line for the dump, my phone rang with an unknown number. I quickly answered and an angel, yes an angel, said "Megan, I heard the stress in your voice and decided I needed to call you first. This happens and everything is going to be okay." She went on to tell me that our stuff was still in the warehouse in Bellevue and was not in the boat. After she hung up with me, she started searching for someone locally who could help us. I called my husband and shouted the good news! We were going to get his hanko back and be able to take it to Japan ourselves.
This angel called back about an hour later, notifying me that we could go to the warehouse and dig through our boxes at 1:00. But wait, we didn't have a car! Luckily, we have awesome friends that also came to our rescue. They picked us up and drove us to the warehouse. Based on the packing list, I had chosen three boxes the pencil case could have been packed in. It wasn't in those boxes, but it was in the forth box we opened. Ah, the relief!!!
Now we can go to Japan. We have everything - tickets, passports, hanko, each other. We are ready.
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