Only a few days remain for us here in Virginia. Now is when things begin spinning out of control. The purging is over, the first shipment left for Japan last week, and the last shipment is being loaded today. Packers, movers, and cleaners, oh my! I am maintaining my teaching schedule through this entire mess….heaven help me. The whirling will even out slightly on Friday, and everything will suddenly lurch forward as we pile in the Suburban, weary and grief-torn, and make our way across the country, numb and dizzy.

These last days feel raw and I try not to hollow out my insides to keep it from hurting so much. We have a few rituals when we leave a house behind. Once all the packers have left, and before housing takes our keys, we sit down on the floor in what was our dining room, and we say thanks for the things we have experienced. Then we pray for the family who will move in next. Perhaps this year, we should add a little prayer for whoever will have to live by us at the next duty station.

It feels like we just did it in our house by the sea in San Clemente when we left Pendleton. I remember the retching ache in my stomach as I drove away from my best friend’s house like it was yesterday. How can it be time again? The tilt-a-whirl just goes faster each year. So sad to be leaving behind our family and friends here in Virginia and along the East coast, but we are looking forward to seeing family and friends out West in the coming weeks. I-40, this is your warning… Weems departing.