Kathy Goes Kiwi

Today, at some point in the day, we will walk out of our home for six months. And move to New Zealand. For six months.

I feel like I should have more profound thoughts or more introspection, but honestly, now? I’m ready to go. I’ve been purging the house and packing us up for the past month, we’ve said so many ‘see you laters’ to our amazing people here and our families, we’ve opened New Zealand bank accounts, we’ve figured out SIM cards (who am I kidding – that was ALL Mark – thanks, Sug!), we’ve sold a car, we’ve cleaned out some of our living space so our tenant can actually unpack, we’ve eaten all the food in the fridge, I’ve drunk all the wine, we’ve figured out what is the appropriate number of toys for Tate to bring with her (sadly, it’s not quite as many as she was hoping, but three yo-yos is two too many, right?!), we’ve sorted out insurance, we’ve packed our carry-on bags. We are done.

The only thing left to do now is leave.

I think because I was surprised by the sadness when we first started saying good-bye, I expected to be kind of weepy at this point. Maybe I’m just too busy and tired to be weepy? But we’re ready. The girls DEFINITELY have some anxiety about walking into the middle of their next school year in two weeks on the other end of the world, but I think the spirit of the adventure is even taking hold in them. So it’s time. We’re ready.

We’ll stop over in Hawaii for a couple of days, have the girls look directly at the big ball of fire in the sky, and then take them into the height of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Where our adventures will really begin.

PS – I’d written this on Sunday night, but Facebook was having a problem publishing or something, so I decided not to post this until Monday morning. When I went downstairs after writing, “we’re ready” and “we’re done” so many times, I realized I’d forgotten to pack just about all of my unmentionables. {Insert BIG scared eyes here} But NOW, I think we’re *really* ready…