Moving forward

This past week we have been busy ridding ourselves of many of the possessions we accumulated in the ten years we lived on Grove Street.  During that time period of home ownership, we celebrated many milestones and memories (both good & tragic): our wedding, September 11th, the birth of our daughter, the weddings of family members & friends, and the births of our niece and nephews... We celebrated a number of birthday's from Rob's 30th to Belle's 7th, the loss of several family pets (our first family dog, the cat, and Belle's mouse), and the acquisition of our rabbit; my two college graduations, and Belle & Rob's first days of school/college.  We learned how wonderful neighbors could be and developed a soft spot for the street we lived on and its people.  This weekend, with the help of some incredibly helpful and hardworking friends, Erica, Ashleigh & Liz, we emptied and prepared our former home for its new owners (who take possession on Wednesday).  I thought it would be hard to say goodbye and there were a couple moments in Belle's room where I got a little choked up, remembering the time spent transforming the space into a princess room.  I found out that it wasn't hard to move on. I'm ready for this new adventure, and eager to start it.  After selling our living room couch, I came back to our summer home and ordered the two suitcases that will carry my remaining possessions with me across the ocean and a continent.

I also celebrated the NH region's Scholastic Writing Awards on Friday (part of the work of the National Writing Project in NH), and had the honor of presenting a silver key to one of my own students (I did not take part in the adjudication) and received a teacher's pin as recognition for being a key winner's teacher.  We also had copies of Middle/High School Voices available for purchase or included in the registration fee for the earlier writing conference with local poet and Plymouth State University English Department chair, Liz Ahl.  During the conference, I learned about the Arabic poetry form called the ghazal and I am eager to use it in my creative writing class later this week (it seems like everything is pushing me towards my destination this summer).  I've turned in my award selections for the end of the year assembly and I'll be presenting three scholarships/awards on the behalf of my English department and teacher's union at the up-coming graduation ceremonies.  The year is quickly coming to a close, and I provided my senior students with their writing portfolio requirements for their now remaining 14 days of class.

Life is going to be busy in the next few weeks with end of the year events, grades, softball, and swim lessons (and probably one more yard sale to empty our storage unit), but it is nice to know that our first move is completed and we're beginning to prepare for the next one.  And today, the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Education announced the school calendar for next year. Off to update our checklist page...

Debris

Our house is a mess. Literally. We have plastic bins and laundry baskets filled with clothes from dressers that have found new homes.  Our sunroom, guestroom, dining room and kitchen have all been stripped of their furnishings, and our laundry room will lose its remaining appliance today.  Last night and this morning, totes were turned into makeshift tables for meals and I went grocery shopping for the last time for this residence - buying only the things we need to make it through this week.  Our garage/barn is holding the remnants of our yard sale.

Today, I return to school and am wondering how we will accomplish all we need to each evening...sandwiched between doctor & dentist appointments, softball, and swim lessons.  Did I mention I also have lunch duty this week and the NH Scholastic Writing Awards and Middle/High School Voices Conference & Publication Launch?

I'm going to take a deep breath and begin. 

It's all fun and games until...

On Friday, I took one of my two remaining personal days because we had to prepare for the yard sale. I rented our first PO Box, and while I was there, was alerted about an available rental.  One of the mom friends I've made alerted us to an apartment that will be referred to as our "summer home" because our house has been sold and the closing is this month.  So, after a week of freaking out about where we will be residing, we found a home that will allow Belle to finish the school year at her school, and we'll stay in town for my summer writing camps. Thank heavens for small towns.

The first day of our massive possession purge has been completed, and the Tylers are universally exhausted. We are prepping the remaining pieces of furniture and looking forward to some much deserved sleep before doing it all over again tomorrow. We couldn't have done it without the help of so many of our friends who came early bearing coffee and cheerfully lugged boxes, books, and furniture out; brought us lunch when we started to droop from hunger; or stuck around in the afternoon to keep us company and help secure items (and even help with the sales).

We even had a visit from our local law enforcement because they had received complaints from the amount of traffic, so he was required to pay us a visit to alert us to the popularity of our sale. Yes, we were visited by a friendly police officer because of our perfectly legal and legit yard sale.

The highlight of the afternoon was a "lost" Good Humor truck coming down our street - so Belle and her friends (and her parents) could all experience the novelty of buying ice cream from a truck.

Keeping fingers crossed & announcing the FIRST TYLERS ARE MOVING SALE!

Today started with two allergy shots, and then I made two trips to the dentist (once for records, the second one for a filling).  I also stopped into Belle's school since I had a few minutes between the appointments and met about getting her school records. They were confused about what I wanted, so I gave them a list and asked for it all by Friday (mind you, I had notified them a week ago that this request was coming). They wanted to know why her records were needed now and I explained that the private schools in the UAE are taking applications now for next year and some schools already have wait lists.  The appointment for the fillings ran late - apparently lots of dental emergencies today - so I was only able to get one of the two fillings done & have another appointment for the last one in two weeks because going to the dentist is everyone's favorite way to spend a day.

I came home to a call from our realtor, the fabulous Joy Moore at Peabody & Smith, that our house inspection will be on Friday and if all goes well, we'll need to find a new place to call home until the BIG move. My fingers, toes, legs, arms, etc. are all crossed that it goes well.  With all this planning and running around, we've decided to hold a TYLERS ARE MOVING SALE!!! on May 7 & 8.  We'll be selling furniture, books, china, toys, tools, picture frames, electronics, dishes, cookware, candlesticks, clocks, bedding, clothes, ice skates, and an electric piano! There will be something for everyone & you do not want to miss the sale. RAIN OR SHINE.  Let me know if you need directions.