Within 30 minutes they mostly had the truck unloaded. As I looked around my house, there were boxes everywhere. I suddenly felt like I had brought too much. Before we left, I worked tirelessly to reduce, reduce, reduce! I gave stuff away left and right. I had a garage sale and had Northwest Centers pick up loads of donations. Anyone who came over was most likely going away with something. I packed away valuables that weren't coming to Japan with us and put it into a tiny storage unit. I gave away over 1/3 of the items in my kitchen, and packed away 1/3 for storage, leaving only 1/3 to make the journey to Japan. I donated boxes and boxes of clothes and toys and, well, stuff!
As they unwrapped furniture, they found one broken trunk. The leg had snapped off at some point. It can be glued. But it was unfortunate all the same. Otherwise, things arrived pretty unscathed.
The next step was unpacking the boxes and putting together our bed (the only piece of furniture that needed assembly). As two of the guys disappeared upstairs and one guy started unpacking the boxes in the living room, I started on the kitchen. As I unwrapped, I gave my son the job of taking the paper and stuffing it into an empty box. He enjoyed his task and it kept him busy. I had 2 large boxes and 3 medium sized boxes of kitchen wares. I wanted to do the kitchen because I wanted to put things away as I unpacked instead of stacking everything on the counters. But soon, I realized how unrealistic that was. Although I had a round idea of where things went, it seemed like I was not opening those items. Instead I was unveiling a vast array of random dishes that I didn't have a plan for. More and more items were going onto the counter and when I would put stuff away, there was too much of it and I was running out of space super fast. What was I going to do? Soon my counters were filled and I still had more to unpack? The main cabinets were overflowing, not nice and neat like my kitchen in Seattle. Was it all going to fit? Why did I decide to bring 12 pint glasses? How did I accumulate so many bowls and why did I bring them all with? Why? Why? Why? I don't have an answer. At this moment, my kitchen is a disaster. I finally gave up and just started shoving to get everything out of the boxes and send the boxes away.
There were several joyful moments as I unpacked or discovered sitting somewhere certain items that I had been missing quite a bit. When I unwrapped my plates and bowls, I couldn't help by think of my grandmother who gave them to me. Seeing my favorite photo of my husband holding our son for the first time made me so happy. Getting all the mugs on the shelves made me warm inside thinking of all the tea we drink while sitting around relaxing. And I happily checked all my baking dishes and confirmed the ones that came to Japan all fit in my oven. Seeing my son's joy when his toy box was brought inside delighted me.
When I was done in the kitchen, I looked at my living room. There was stuff everywhere. The mover had decided the couch was a good place to put everything and my son had dived right into his costume box with a fervor, leaving a huge pile of costumes on the floor as he put one almost every item in the box at least once. The kitchen table was piled high with personal effects. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the house being too full. I like a bit of space. I hate clutter. And right now, my house is cluttered! Deep breaths.
I went upstairs and saw that there was basically nothing in my bedroom, except the bed and bedside tables. This made me so relieved because I knew I would sleep better in a sparse room. Clothes and hangers were in the closet. The folded clothes were still in a box in the office. I was fine with that. Everything was moving too fast. I'm used to doing things by myself and the speed of these guys doing their job was throwing me off. The toys were unpacked in my son's room and neatly put in piles in the corner of the room. The office still had boxes (8, to be exact), but I was fine with them leaving them as it so I could take my time with them.
That was it. They were done with their part of my move. I signed a couple forms and they left. Part of me is so happy to have my stuff. But another part feels so far away from the US and home, which makes me so sad. It seems like everything about this move, this transition, is full of mixed emotions. The older I get and the more experience I have under my belt, the more gray everything becomes. Life is no longer filled with black and white, right and wrong. It is a multi-dimensional mixed bag of gray abstract paintings.
I needed to get some fresh air to process things and my son needed to play in the sunshine. My neighbor told me that Piyo-Piyo had another activity in the park today. I quickly heated leftovers and put them into a lunch thermos (that had just been unpacked). We headed out, looking forward to a break from the craziness of the house. Piyo-Piyo did not disappoint. Today there were different toys to play with. My son really wanted to ride a skateboard down the hill. Once I convinced him to do it sitting down, he did it again and again and other kids soon joined in the fun. Before I realized it, 5 skateboards had been located and were rolling down the hill with laughing kids on them. We sat on the big tarps to eat our lunch and found out that one of the kids we were sitting next to was going to be starting at the same Kindergarten as my son in April. As soon as he was done eating, he was back rolling down the hill over and over again. At some point, he switched from the skateboard to a little wagon or cart. When one of the staff members told the kids it was story time, we joined the group to hear a story and sing a song. Then Piyo-Piyo time was over. I loved how everyone just pitched in to clean up the area. Everything is disassembled and put into one of three storage sheds.
We returned home and I got the living room cleaned up. We can now sit on the couch, the table is clear, as is the floor. I made the beds upstairs and put away some of the bathroom stuff. I will tackle the kitchen tomorrow. When my husband got home, we went out for sushi and then stopped and picked up desserts to enjoy at home. We deserve some celebratory desserts. Two whole months without our stuff, major transitions going on, and because the desserts here are awesome.
Now it is time to head to bed. Our beautiful, comfy, wonderful bed that I have missed so much. I shall sleep soundly tonight - if not out of pure joy, then at least out of exhaustion.
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