* After all my talk of ease and excitement in the last post, yesterday I was overcome by another migraine. By this morning I was still feeling scattered and dizzy, so I stayed home and pushed through the fog to get ready for the movers. I indecisively moved clothes back and forth between piles: "take in luggage," "mail," "today," and "the long haul." Maj Betancourt sent me a text to "account for me" - the base was conducting an exercise and accountability of all personnel is a big deal. A bit later he called with a healthy dose of morale support, which helped me calm down.
* It was Steve's day off, so I had his help, too. And if I had let her, Emma would have been happy to sit on me as her way of giving reassurance and nurturing.
* The movers were scheduled to show up between noon and four, but Luis and Fernando arrived at 11:20 to pack up 170 lbs of my worldly possessions. Good thing I was already home!
* Naturally, the warm weather of yesterday had been blown out at four this morning by a big east-moving storm. Steve watched the packing while I ran around looking for more stuff to put in the boxes. He said, "Clothes!" I gathered up a pile of summer stuff I was going to put in the big shipment, and more hanging clothes, and took them downstairs. I used the mud room as the staging area, thinking it would be easier to get boxes to the truck from the side door that opens onto the driveway.
* That worked out well, since it was wet and muddy. Cold rain pelted Luis as he carried each of the four large boxes - and the aluminum garbage can with 20 lbs of Emma's food - to the truck. I asked them if they flip a coin to decide which of them will handle the paperwork and which will haul the boxes. Fred, from the Ft Belvoir quality assurance office, stopped by to make sure everything was going well. He said, "We want to make sure your daughter's or granddaughter's things are taken care of." I said, "These are my things. Would you like a shovel to dig yourself out of this hole?" We laughed, and I ribbed him about his gaff a few more times.
 |
| Indian AF air-to-air refueler lands as Lajes en route to Nellis AFB, Nevada. |
* To celebrate passing this hurdle, Steve and I went out for Mexican food. Not San Antonio Tex-Mex, but pretty good for Northern Virginia.
* I just found the Facebook page for Lajes, and posted a greeting on "its" wall.
Here are a couple of the latest offerings on the housing website...
