Are we really doing this?

Wow. I really cannot put my thoughts into words very well at the moment. I just feel, well, wow. I know that moving is a big life change. It is one of the big three, right? - marriage, birth of child, moving.. or something like that. I don't think "big life change" is sufficiently descriptive or superlative enough to express what it is like to move to another country with three small children... and... I say this and we aren't even there yet. Don't get me wrong. I am overwhelmingly excited and grateful for this incredible opportunity. Nonetheless, it is overwhelmingly overwhelming all at the same time. Yes, it is redundant, yet quite appropriate, to use the word "overwhelming" three times. There are to do lists full of things that must be done. There are line items on the to do list that really can't be forgotten without some not so nice consequences. There are to do lists for to do lists. Ok, maybe I just gave away a little of my obsessiveness but, you knew that anyways, right? I feel myself being hit by multiple waves of emotion all at the same time. Excited for the opportunities the kids will have... all that they will be exposed... how much larger their world will be when we return. Excited for the adventures we will have as a family. Excited about the unknown. Fearful of the unknown. Sad about leaving our friends and family but energized with the idea of meeting new friends. Tearful thinking of moving out of the home I brought all of our babies home to. Elated to be at a place where Freddie and I can choose and move into a home that is completely ours and not what was once just mine. The food, the wine, the cheese, the language, the people, the trains, the new home, the new culture, the airplane ride, the different climate... all bring me fear and joy all at the same time. There must be an emotion... a word... to describe that feeling.

This week we are preparing for the move out of our home. Next Tuesday, we move into a furnished apartment for a month. Then, we move into my in-laws home for 3 weeks. Then, we move to France to live in a furnished apartment for a month or up until we find our permanent house or apartment. Then, we will be reunited with our belongings and can begin making our home in France. Yes, you counted correctly. We will be moving to four different locations in the next two months. Adventure, right? Yes. Will memories be made? Absolutely.

Now, I must go and pick something randomly off the to do list because, at this moment, I don't even know where to start!!!