Be Prepared

So, preparing to leave for 10 months and moving states, storing stuff, getting rid of stuff and saying “see ya laters” and “goodbyes” requires quite a bit of preparation. Whenever I think about what our theme song would be for these last few weeks, I think about the song   Be Prepared from the Lion King.

 

                                              

There have definitely been some hyena like moments. Including when the lovely internet person came to pick up our beloved bed on our last day in Texas and I attacked him with offers of free stuff i.e. “Don’t you like this table?” “How about this bag of random stuff?” He kindly acquiesced and relieved us of several of our items designated for donation. He also quite kindly offered to help Jared move some of the stuff onto the truck, unfortunately for me, we were not at that point in our moving marathon.

After leaving Texas, we started our family spree with a visit to OKC where I got to spend the afternoon with my cousin, we had dinner with our good friends and spent the day hanging out with our nephew. From there we picked up my brother and sister in law from the airport and headed to Enid, OK. In Enid we are fortunate enough to have both sets of our grandparents living. They are four pretty cool people who enjoy fudge, westerns and farkle (a dice game that my family DID NOT invent). We had an absolutely wonderful three days of Christmas celebrations and also got to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins! Overall, an excellent Enid escapade.

From there we went to hang out with his side of the family. We were able to skype with his brother and his family in Arizona and met our new great niece! The next day we were lucky enough to partake in a special celebration of sixty years of marriage for Jared’s Mom’s parents. It was lovely seeing his family and celebrating not only Christmas but the obvious love his grandparents have for one another. We now have 3 sets of grandparents with 60+ years of marriage. How lucky we are to have such great examples in our lives!

Then, Jared had to work a couple days and I hung out in Bartlesville. We met again in Little Rock where we got to see my step-sister and brother in law and niece and nephew and we rang in 2015 with great friends in great style. It was an excellent Arkansas visit. We had a few days in Broken Arrow and Bartlesville and as I write this we are separated as Jared is in Arizona to see his brother and his brother’s family (including the great niece!) and I am again in Enid to have some one-on-two awesome time with my grandparents.

Phew. It’s been a busy few weeks but I can’t come close to complaining. I have loved getting to see everyone. As far as trip preparations go, we have made some last minute Amazon purchases (rehydration tablets, quick drying towel…etc.) and made some copies of passports, printed itineraries etc. I think the most stressful part of it all has been figuring out what exactly to do with all our stuff. There is nothing like going through your belongings and trying to make everything fit in a storage unit to make you feel like, “Ohemgee, so much stuff. How do I have so much stuff? Why did it all seem so important at some point?”

Oh! And speaking of stuff, I sold my car! Yay! Little Hyundai, you were awesome but trip or not it was about time for us to part. Thank you for all the independence and happiness you brought me, I know you will give the new owner similar, unforgettable moments.

 

Who knows, I might come home with a Ferrari ;)