The Waiting Game

Not much new to report except increased anxiety and some sleepless nights.

We're about 2 weeks out from relocating. Being gone for 4 months is so much different than my standard couple days to a week business trip or vacation. I thought planning for the JMT was arduous. But having to pick up and plunk down in a location 2500 miles away is daunting. How do people do this?

We've arranged a 2 bedroom apartment in Rockville. Its about a 10 minute walk to the Metro and a couple miles north of NIH (where there is also a Metro stop). I thought finding a rental would be a piece of cake, but it turns out that it's a pretty tight rental market. When you factor in a short term lease and trying to find a furnished place, then the options thin out considerably (to something near zero). Ultimately we took an unfurnished apartment and we'll end up shopping at Ikea for furniture - the delta cost between renting furniture (etc) and buying something functional but inexpensive at Ikea washes out at about 4 months. I figure that, worst case, we can donate the furniture at the end and get a tax write-off or sell some of it to recover some of the cost. This will be a big year for tax deductions - we'll probably be audited (oh boy!)

Around here we're trying to tie up loose ends and make arrangements for while we are gone. There are a million details to look after. Elise will be leaving school a couple weeks early so we've needed to make arrangements for finals. And we need her 8th grade books before we leave because the school year starts before we come home. I'm trying to finish important stuff at work, but my "big rocks" just aren't getting crossed off the list very quickly. At least the lamp I made for the local museum auction is complete; I just need to box it up and drop it off before we leave.

We're planning to fly out and drive back. We'll be buying the car I've been putting off once we get to MD. I've nursed my car along for a while now, but it's time to part company. It's in the shop now having a critical repair (small leak in the radiator) before I can sell it with a clear conscience. I'm hoping I can sell it before I leave or it will just sit in the garage, but trying to sell it is just one more stressor (not to mention trying to share a car with Becky).

Elise is "on her last nerve". The normal little things at school are getting to her (e.g. kids talking in class, typical 13 yo teasing, etc) and she's had a couple melt downs. She's finished with most all extracurricular activities except Girl Scouts and that wraps up next Monday. Clearing the books has provided some much needed downtime for her each evening. I was thankful that she didn't get her money in early enough for a CJSF trip to Knotts Berry Farm this Friday. Normally she'd be very disappointed, but I think she was relieved - one less thing to do.

Elise will be getting her hair cut short this weekend in anticipation of losing her hair from chemo and radiation conditioning. She's donating what's cut off to Locks Of Love. We've bought her a couple nice hats that she seems to like (and look really cute in). I think she's mentally prepared for this aspect, but I know it won't be easy for her. It's hard being different at 13.

This all sounds so awful, but we're trying to find the brighter side of things too. If Elise is healthy enough after she's released from the hospital, there might be some opportunities to do things in MD between visits to the hospital. Towards the end of our stay there she should be feeling much better and maybe our range away from home base will grow. This would open up some neat tourist opportunities. Elise and Becky keep talking about wanting to go to NY...