Too much stuff

Movers are incredibly efficient.

I am not.

Today, the movers finished packing up our house and loading it onto a 40-foot container. It took them a total of 12 hours over two days to do the job. It was an amazing thing to watch. They had to take apart all of the furniture. They wrapped everything that wasn't boxed in brown paper. And everything is labeled. Just incredible.

In that same amount of time, I needed to pack 4 suitcases and carry-ons for our flight. I'm still not done to my satisfaction. Right now, there is no way we will be able to get everything on the plane; there's just too much. So tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday, I will be fine tuning the packing to make sure the essentials make it. Everything else might have to find a closet at a family member's home (Mom? Kathy? Cathy? Susie?)

I think I know what is holding me up though. I'm afraid of what we will "need" for the next six to eight weeks before our shipment arrives. I'm also afraid of how much things will cost in England. So I'm trying to take everything from here so I don't necessarily have to buy it there. And I want the boys to have comforts from home, so of course I need to pack that blanket.

The worst part about all of this is that I tried to keep the things we liked most out of the shipment so we could have them right away in England. Now these items are mostly clothing items, and I should not be so emotionally attached to them. But it's an emotional time, so yes, I do care deeply about Jack's gray and white striped shirt, and Reid's monster truck shirt, and Colin's frogs and dogs pajamas. But I really need a place to put my camera bag and the blanket I am crocheting for Jack. Something will have to go.

So tonight, I will go to sleep. I will dream about getting stopped by security for over-packing, or about the taxi driver in London telling me I have to leave something behind, or my camera bag telling me I'm a horrible person for not packing it first. I have problems.

And I'm not efficient.