On the road

We made it through our first 'packout' this weekend.  The packout itself took just over 4 hours, but all the worry and fretting leading up to it took days, if not weeks.  We donated/sold/got rid of a lot of things that we won't need anymore - like a second bed and tons of odds and ends (how many backpacks does one couple need to keep??), but it still felt like we shipped a lot of items off to DC. 

In case you all haven't noticed, I'm terrible at goodbyes.  We have so many wonderful people in our lives that it's hard to accept that we won't be able to drop in as easily now. But I look forward to seeing everyone again in the not-so-distant future, and until then, there's always cell phones, email, skype, facebook, etc.  If you aren't connected to me on skype yet, shoot me an email and we'll exchange logins. :)

Now we're visiting J's dad, family, and friends from his hometown - we'll head east on Thursday.  Last night we made a mandatory trip to Portillo's - one of our favorite eateries in the greater Chicago area.  So good! And then J & his dad convinced me to play Texas Hold'em, where I proceeded to clean house. I bet they wished we had played Scrabble instead... ;)

It's hard for me to believe that a week from now I'll have started this new career and have met many of my new colleagues. That's next week, though - now we have a little time to relax, and then a couple more days of cross-country driving.