So, yes, I have OCD (as well as dyslexia), mild in both, but definitely there.  I’m all about lists. Lists keep me focused, on track and sane. I started the big list about 90 days out from our move date, Oct. 2. And you can Google for International Moving Lists. So I googled and got a couple of them and run them simultaneously, checking off furiously. This is sounding way too stressful, so I put my pen down and take a short hike with the dogs. Then back to it.

Our plan was to downsize first here in the USA, figure out what to take or not and basically we are sticking to that plan. John had built us a big, beautiful mountain house and I loved it. My dream home. Chalet style with lots of glass looking out over the mountains. We realized the equity in the house would give us some cushion for retirement years. Of course that cushion got a lot smaller with the recession, so we have to be smart with our life in Abruzzo. We sold our house in April of this year, then ran  a two day moving sale to sell off our stuff. I invited just specific groups of friends, as I didn’t want the general public at our home. We did well at the sale, and what didn’t go (books, antiques, and just some general stuff) got donated to our local SPCA Thrift Shop or put on consignment at an antique store.

We moved into a cute (cute can also denote SMALL) cottage and learned about downsizing with two big labs. Have no doubt, we are very grateful to our friend that rented us this cottage for a song. But having two very large dogs, who are our ‘children’,  definitely stretched our patience. Downsizing was great in regards to the time it would take me to clean the house each week, but John and I had to learn a new dance not to run into each other during the day.  But it was a great humbling experience, and we learned how to be more adaptable and to live without a lot of ‘things’.

Once we relocated to the cottage, we were ready to look for a home in Italy. We had a two week vacation planned this past June and that would have to do. Not a lot of time to look around, but it was all we could manage with our part-time jobs. I did a lot of work online looking and I’ll elaborate on that in a separate post. We found a great rental near Atri just NW of Pescara and we couldn’t be more excited to call that home for awhile. We may buy someday, but we didn’t not want to rush into such a commitment early on.

So now the fun part begins in earnest to go from the cottage here in Virginia to Italy.

Some of the things we got into place and I’ll do some separate posts on these in detail:

• A Place to Live in Italy – a big one!
• International Pet Mover
• Moving Company for our household belongings
• Another yard sale for remaining items not going to Italy
• Selling our cars
• John’s 92 yo mom
• Everything that goes with bank accounts, phones, healthcare, etc here in the States.

Honestly, I don’t sleep very long most nights. If I get woken for any reason..last night the smoke alarm went off because of dust from a fan..I never really got back to sleep. Run through all my lists in my head as I lie there in the dark. Sometimes I get up and hit the computer to see what I can accomplish. Sometimes I make it back to sleep. John is a rock at night. A bit stressed during the day. No sugar coating here. This is tough for us. We are nesters. We like having a place to call home. Even this cottage is home right now. Getting all the details taken care of takes a lot of energy and patience. But there is no doubt in our minds that this is all so very worth it! If you are thinking of the big move, and it’s your heart’s desire, push through this. We are. It won’t be perfect in Italy. Like I said earlier, our eyes are wide open. But it will be amazing! We can’t wait!