don't pack the night before...for a two year trip!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

o.k. so this is Debra posting. Yes, we KNOW we're not supposed to spend the 24 hours before flying out of the country for two years packing, but of course, with kids etc it was nigh impossible to do so beforehand. Of course, we'd spent the previous weeks slowly sorting (something one very wise friend of mine told me NOT to do!) and packing up things we knew we would not need. I gave away children's clothes hangers, maternity clothes, Baby Einstein videos, newborn toys and all sorts of things that felt great to get rid of. But hey -- I wasn't thinking of the packing, just the cleaning out part.
But I digress...

So, start with the fact that we thought we were WAY ahead of the game since Aaron knew a friend making Aliyah and thus was shipping all of her household and worldly belongings to Israel care of some funder and we got to put 5 boxes in with her shipment, which will arrive in late Sept. 5 boxes! WOW...that's alot of stuff...except when you have kids.
1 entire box of children's books in English
1 entire box of children's shoes. Yes. A whole box. Sized 3 to 10. Our children will not go shoeless, so the grandparents can breathe a sigh of relief at that.
1 entire box of chidren's toys. Silvie, of course, keeps asking for her stuff which we try to explain will come "later."
1 entire box of children's clothes sized 4T for Silvie, for next year.
I have no idea what's in the other box. I hope it's good!

In the 24 hours before we left, we had to finish packing our entire lives into one amazingly small room in our house AND pack for the trip. So of course Aaron and I don't communicate and we pack separately and at the same time.
Upon arrival, we are fortunate to have realized that we have:
1 pair of very fancy dress shoes for Aaron, which of course he will never use. But they sure are nicely polished.
1 cocktail dress of Debra's but no shoes to go with it. Maybe I can wear Aaron's shoes?
Of COURSE we brought the stroller, but NOT the rain cover.
A lot lot lot of kids hats (4 for each kid!) but no hairbands or pony tail holders. When they're having a bad hair day, the kids can always wear hats...saved!
No hair trimmer for Aaron...and no blow dryer for me. But I remembered to bring some product samples!
I regret no Nalgene water bottles.
I was so happy to bring a brand new fancy vegan-friendly vegetarian cookbook. Unfortunately, we either can't find the ingredients here or they are just too expensive. Oh well!

And those nice down pillows that we have, that Aaron set aside to pack after we woke up at some god-awful time in the morning...I packed away immediately thinking I was so efficient.

As long as I'm talking last minute, I picked up my tailoring the day before we left and never tried it on. My nice new jeans are too short, and sadly, two very distinct lengths. With only a quarter inch hem. Sigh.

O.k. I think enough grumbling.

We are slowly rebuilding our lives here. Not as cushy. But just as fun!