About to Embark, from Christina

Background: Six weeks ago I signed an offer letter for a 3 year gig in Sharjah UAE, which is practically a suburb of Dubai. The women's colleges are in need of English faculty and they've seen fit to hire me after a 90 minute teleconference interview and an extensive reference check. Since Billy and I are world travellers and language buffs at heart, and our hopes for our children are lives rich with cultural awareness and travel experiences, we decided to take the gutsy plunge into expatriate living with our children into the middle-east.

Task at hand: I've got five days to go and ten 30x15x15 duffle bags to pack. We're each allowed two 50-pound checked bags, a 22-pound carry-on and one purse or laptop bag, within which all of our necessities for the next three years must be prioritized, organized and packed for air travel. We've been advised to store, rather than container-ship our furniture, as more than one faculty family's belongings got interminably off-loaded in Yemen, so we're travelling light.

The kids: They're hanging in there, after tearful good-byes to Dog Dukie, cool sausage-making-fishing-expert-best-satellite-tv Uncle Bern, zucchini plants, Spyglass Circle neighbors, pool, best friends, bunk beds and sand box. As much as we'd love to pack these items, along with the tether ball pole, bicycles, giant bean bag and about 1500 books, we are holding these things dear to our hearts and then packing them carefully off to storage, to new homes with friends, and to Grandma Brady's cavernous Tinley Park barn.

What the kids have chosen to bring along is revealing, as Brady insists on his karaoke machine, Liam his legos and Rosie her blankie and a bucket of hair scrunchies. I, however, have not been nearly as minimal, as the Dubai pile in our giant Colorado master bedroom comes closer and closer to taking over completely.

Billy: Since Billy is now between jobs, and not leaving for a few more weeks, he's got the ugly task of hiring the movers and preparing parcels from our deep and overstocked pantry to be surprise-dropped on our Boulder friends' porches. He also intends to get as much ultimate frisbee time as is possible for an unemployed man charged with the care of 4-year-old Rosie and the final sale of our Louisville home.

Christina: After three farewell parties and big hugs from my circle of dear friends
I am ready to go. All I need is for my friends and family in Colorado and elsewhere to stay healthy, keep in touch, and hopefully come and visit in the UAE.