Moving update

After weeks of our move feeling unreal and distant, we're now in the thick of it. I had to search through half-packed boxes to find my laptop charger, and every room in our home looks foreign, it's so empty. The moving truck comes Monday to haul our belongings off to New York, and then we'll have until Thursday to make our way out there.
I have to believe the hardest part of the move is behind us. Until Wednesday night, we still didn't have an apartment in NY, even though the movers were coming in 5 days. Fortunately, our application for our apartment was accepted and we've signed a lease. Then came the first moving deadline of Friday morning, by which time we had to have our home staged for realty photos. Staged as in "nothing you own but furniture can be visible, and some of that has to go, too." We gave away about half our belongings to The Salvation Army to make room for everything else to be stuffed into closets and cabinets. Then Tye and I went to our final Chicago playgroup with our dearest friends. Even though I know I'll be in touch with them, saying goodbye was painfully hard.
Everything is slowly but surely falling- or being packed- into place. Tye knows there's something going on and isn't sleeping as well as normal, but she's having a great time playing in moving boxes with all the odds and ends that show themselves when you finally pack your home. When she asks where something is, a simple response has been sufficient so far, as if she only wants to be sure it actually is somewhere. I think we'll start talking to her about our new home on Sunday to prepare her for the sudden emptying of our current home the next day.
A deep thanks goes out to all of you for the notes of encouragement and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. The support has been just what we needed. This week will go down as one in our lives that marks a dramatic transition, by which our lives will be measured as "before" and "after." It's an exciting time for us. Can't wait to share more!