Day 789 | Farewell DC

"You will never be completely home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."

-Miriam Adeney

So long for now, DC. Sniffle, sniffle. 

Day 788 | One More Sleep

The moving truck arrives at 9:00am tomorrow. We're finishing up the last few boxes and contemplating our to do list for tomorrow amidst feelings of extreme excitement and extreme sadness.

The boys have been using a countdown chain to prepare themselves for the big move (as if stealing all their toys and books hasn't been enough of a clue). Tonight there was great celebration as they tore off the last link of paper. Do they have any idea what's actually going on here? I'd like to think so. They're smart kids. 

Day 787 | Working Hard

We've been working our tales off all day and somehow we still have things to do. I feel like our possessions reproduce while we're sleeping somehow.

We did, however, manage this lovely coffee break while we waited for the car to be serviced (we're efficient like that). Just one more day of this chaos and then *fingers crossed* we can take a bit of a breather. A well-deserved breather. 

Day 786 | Final Farewells

Well, we didn't make it to the top of the Washington Monument, sorry Chase, but we did make it down to the Mall for one final stop to take in the beauty of the District. And man, was it the perfect outing. The weather couldn't have been better, we found a parking spot (always a challenge), the crowds were manageable, and the monuments were awe-inspiring, as usual. It's like DC was trying one last time to lure us into staying. Unfortunately, we have too many boxes packed to let it convince otherwise.

As if the goodbye to the monuments wasn't enough for one day, we hosted a park party to say goodbye to all our friends this afternoon. We had a bunch of amazing people show up to play one last time at the park that sold us on this neighborhood originally (here's one of the original Tree Park posts). I held it together shockingly well...until the last two goodbyes. Then I lost it. Saying goodbye stinks. Saying goodbye to the best friends a girl could ask for really stinks.

I'm going to miss this city. I'm going to miss this neighborhood. I'm going to miss this house. I'm going to miss Chase's school. I'm going to miss the monuments and museums. I'm going to miss the playgrounds. I'm going to miss the walk-ability. I'm going to miss the Metro (even if it is a mess a lot of the time). I'm going to miss our favorite restaurants. I'm going to miss the energy. I'm going to miss the tourists (no, really!).

But, at the end of the day, I'm really really going to miss the people. It's always the people that make anything memorable, isn't it. I keep telling myself that my three best friends (Chris, Chase, and Robbe) are all coming with me, but I'm beyond sad to be saying goodbye to all my non-family friends. I've worked really hard to make these friends and it seems too early to be saying farewell.

We'll call it "see you later" instead. That sounds better.

Day 785 | Packing

Chris and I promised a year ago that we were going to hire movers to pack our house up if we actually ended up deciding to move back to Wisconsin. We've tackled that challenge five times in 10 years and decided we were done. Twelve months later and about 40 boxes in, that decision was thrown out the window. Why, you might ask? I decided I wanted to save the money to splurge on nice patio furniture for our new, amazing three-season room. That's a fair trade-off, right?!? And, you know what dawned on me, I don't actually mind packing. And here's why:

Top five reasons I don't mind packing:

1. There's nothing more satisfying that the perfectly packed box. Man, I've had some really impressive ones this time around. If only photos could do them justice, maybe I'd create some sort of calendar out of all my favorites.
2. It makes the move seem real. I didn't like the idea of living a totally normal life right up to the day before our move. I don't think it would have been great for my emotional state and definitely would have been harder for the boys to understand. Now, they see the boxes every day and me packing every day and we're talking about the move nearly constantly.
3. The money saved. This one is obvious, I know, but have you ever received a quote to have boxes packed? It's no joke. To satisfy your curiosity, in DC it's about $12 to pack a normal box (clothes, books, etc.) and then the price jumps to about $40 per box for fragile items (i.e. your entire kitchen). Of course there are some in between prices as well. That's no joke. We figure it'll save us about $2000 to pack everything. You're all going to love the patio furniture so much more now!
4. The purging. If someone else packs your stuff, how do you go through everything so that you're not packing an old basketball jersey from high school (ok, to be fair, that one actually did make the cut, but I threw a lot of other stuff...). I don't want to bring all my old junk to my beautiful new house. 
5. Ease in unpacking. I'm fully aware that the unpacking process is no picnic either. But, if I pack my own boxes and have a general idea of where stuff is and how much I still need to find homes for, I'm confident I'll be in a better place after the movers unload the truck.

Keep in mind, we're still hiring professionals to load and unload the truck and drive everything cross country. That, we will pay the crazy expensive fee for. Neither Chris nor I have the friends willing to help us move (we're not 20 anymore) or the stamina for a 16+ hour trek in a Uhaul. Bring on the movers!

Day 784 | Powering Through

If you haven't been able to tell through all the super fun and positive "bucket list" blog posts, things have actually been a bit rough around here. After our bout with hand, food, and mouth disease, I've been struggling with my back pain creeping in and some crazy wrist pain (to the point I couldn't pick anything up). On top of that, fireworks hit our house on the 4th of July (how does that happen?!?) and we woke up to $600 worth of damage to our siding (one week before we close on the house). Sheesh.

Instead of spending the rest of this post ranting about everything else that could be bumming me out these days (did I mention I lost my keys for 1.5 hours on Tuesday and was totally housebound because of this...not cool with only eight days left here!), I'm going to focus it on what helped me shift my mood: this little weed in our back alley.

Is that the most impressive thing ever? I don't know why but every time I look at it, it's a reminder that if you stay focused, keep trying, and power through the hard stuff, you can do it. Seem a little deep? Probably, it is only a little weed after all, but I appreciate the reminder and thought you might, too.

The last few weeks have been my concrete layer. I just need to keep pushing forward and someday, some day, there will be reward + relief.

Day 783 | A Final Museum

If you're keeping track, we are one (1!) activity away from finishing our bucket list. Today we ventured down to the Mall for a trip to a museum. It wasn't the museum previously mentioned on our lists, you might notice. Chase decided to call an audible and select the National Museum of the American Indian instead, for two reasons. One, he could feed the ducks at the Capitol reflecting pool. Two, he wanted to play with the igloo. 

The American History Museum is always a crazy mess so I completely grabbed hold of this shift in plans and we went with it. There was a moment of panic when we found out the igloo wasn't going to open until later in the day, but luckily we befriended a sweet employee who made an exception for the cute kid who wanted this to be his last museum trip before he moves. Yeah, I laid it on a *little* thick, but super-sensitive Chase wasn't going to handle this turn of events well. In the end, good fortune won out and we were allowed ten minutes to build it up. Whew.

DC Bucket List, Deadline: July 13

• Visit Turkey Thicket playground
• Ride the Wheaton Miniature Train
• Watch the ball drop at the Discovery Building
• Eat at our sushi restaurant
• Wade in Yards Park
• Ride the Metro
• Pick berries at Butler's Orchard
• Fort Steven's Park 
• Eat at H&Pizza
• Visit the top of the Washington Monument
• Watch the airplanes at Gravelly Point
• Jump at trampoline park
• Play at the National Building Museum
• Have a snack by the train tracks
• Feed the ducks at the Capitol
• Build an igloo at the National Museum of the American Indian