We're Out!

On Thursday we moved out of our home of the past 25 years to temporary housing in Katy's parents' house in Falmouth.

 In spite of our best efforts, we still wound up moving a lot of stuff that we KNOW we won't keep, whether in long term storage, on the boat, or in Falmouth. So we're now in the throes of still more weeding and organizing.

Thursday was also the day Alison had her jaw surgery. It was on my mind all day, and has been pretty steadily since then. I'm so grateful that Owen, Margaret and David are all with her through this; it's a pretty hairy procedure with a long recovery time. The word this morning, though is that Alison is much improved from yesterday, so things are moving in the right direction.

There's still so much to do before we leave: pack up the pallet of stuff to ship to France, learn enough French to not TOTALLY behave like ugly Americans, organize all the stuff we are leaving at the Cape house, and -- say good-bye for now to all of our friends and relatives. There are moments when I can't really believe we are doing this.

Being at the Cape, though, is a welcome respite from the past few weeks in Cambridge. Having the house gradually become less and less livable was stressful and discouraging. Here, we are certainly still surrounded by chaos, but we have a table to eat on, a kitchen to cook in, and a peaceful view out the windows.

We're steadily checking off the many bureaucratic boxes to complete before we leave: completing my Medicare signup, changing our mailing address with a gazillion organizations, getting our long-stay visa from the French consulate, setting up a Euro-friendly debit card, and on and on. But the list has gotten a lot shorter.

So - farewell, Orchard Street. Hello, Falmouth, and soon hello, Cherbourg.