Three Weeks

Our personal property was packed out six weeks ago. The process went fairly
smoothly, including the short cut way of moving our sofa between levels.

We are actually leaving. The time is here. It's not some event that's too far away to wrap my brain around. In two weeks, we move out of our house. In three, we fly out of the country. I am ready to go. I wasn't sure I would be a few months ago, but now, I am excited. More than anything, I'm excited to be able to walk out my door and have a nice walk with La Bimba (la bimba is the Italian slang for baby girl). I went for a coffee with a friend this past week in Pozzuoli. I love her area. She is set amidst these former palaces, now fading in glory, with cobblestone streets, church bells that ring out, and a vibrant neighborhood that is just so Italian the minute you step outside her gates. I went over early to walk Nora to sleep in her stroller so that we could sit down and enjoy coffee without the Shrieker (Nora's latest skill, so she currently practices it often). And the minute I stepped outside her gates, I remembered: I hate walking the stroller in Naples. I always think in my mind that it will be different, but it never is. The cobblestones are not at all romantic when using an umbrella stroller [for this exact reason, we also bought the big mama of strollers - but it's not practical for tiny, coffee shops and restaurants]. There are always random stairs or large potholes or no sidewalk, so street walking is along narrow streets with speeding cars, scooters weaving in and out, more speeding cars avoiding the other speeding cars, and so on. If we were to stay here, I know that I would just change how I operate to continue to make the most of the opportunities, but because we are indeed leaving, I can allow myself to mentally let go of Naples and look forward to the positives that face us in the Pacific Northwest.

I have a head full of blog posts to write before leaving, so I'm hoping I get them all written! But PCSing overseas (or back from overseas) is HARD! Those who have read this blog from the start may recall my constant whining about how difficult the move here was. I guess I thought getting back would be easier. But it is not. Ducks have to be lined up just so, and if you get one out of order, chaos ensues. We are on a good track. I just know something will be dropped on my end though. My attention span away from Nora allows for about 12.5 minutes at a time, which does not allow me to think through a problem/event/task list and act on it in a meaningful way. Speaking of...La Bimba is awake. My 12.5 minutes that it took to write these two paragraphs are all that I can write for now.

Just a random photo:
These are the tracks to the Cumana line of public transit;
a Metro that runs mostly above ground and serves our suburb.