It is remarkably unfair to lump something as emotional as saying goodbye to years of good friends with the mundane task of trying to get the suitcases to zip, but it’s necessary for me to keep my emotions in check. After all the FB Marketplace folderole, the DOZEN or so trips to Goodwill, and the foisting of our belongings on to friends and family, it was time to actually pack. We did a test run to try to get everything we wanted to take with us in the suitcases and it didn’t take long to realize there was no way on God’s green earth we were going to get everything in the cases we had. One of them was quite small so it became my carry on and Frank was off to Tuesday Morning to try to find a “cheap” suitcase. Luckily, he found a 28″ hard side which didn’t break the bank and we tried the whole “stuff everything in 6 cases (!?!)” thing again. Nope. Wasn’t going to work. So we shifted some stuff from the “packed” to “shipped” pile and thought we were fine.

Except for one thing: all the Christmas ornaments were in the “shipped” pile and we don’t expect to see the shipped goods until the new year. So they needed to get pulled out and put into the “packed” pile. But there was truly no more room there. So a new pile was born: to be mailed! Yes, we did go there. A small shipping box from the USPS would take the Christmas stuff (and some sweaters and other bulky-but-not-heavy items) so that solve that problem! Or so we thought….

The movers came on Thursday (3 hours late!) and packed up way more stuff than we put on the insurance forms (shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) And then the house really felt empty. Except that it wasn’t. As anyone who has ever moved knows, crap breeds in dark closets when no one is looking! So even though we *thought* we had the amount of stuff under control, it wasn’t even close, Jesse even came from Boston and took and entire car load of stuff back to Boston – and her wonderful partner took more than her fair share of stuff to try to save us. But alas, it would take 2 more boxes and about $500 in postage to get everything that wasn’t in our 6 suitcases to Aberdeen. Yes, we did walk into a UPS store in VA with a variety of things that were stuffed loose into the back of the rented minivan but would not fit in any of the cases. And yes, a kindly UPS employee packed up the crap that needed to go and shipped it from me to me. And yet we still had 2 of our 6 cases come in at more than 50 pounds. AAAAHHHHHH!

In the midst of all this was the packing for Buddy. All the paperwork finally came through and after a small screwup that meant that he got more than one de-worming treatment, he was ready to hit the road with us. Our rented minivan was chock full of cases and a monster dog crate and the canine king. We spent two nights in hotels along the route and he was beside himself, taking up a full half of the king sized beds while Frank and I shared the other half. But after all was said and done, he made his way to the pet transport lounge and was safely awaiting his flight to Frankfurt.

And while all this was going on, we had a parade of “lasts” – last row on the canal, last race with RBC, last dinner with this friend or that, last day of work, last time we’ll do XXX in Rochester. We managed to get through most of them without tears – or at least without anyone seeing our tears. While we enjoyed the place, the people are what we’ll miss most. Here is a small sample of the parade of important people. Please don’t feel that you didn’t rank if you aren’t in these photos – these are just what we could come up with between the laughter and the tears.

Of course it decided to snow the day we left so it felt like the appropriate way to say goodbye. See you all soon!