If any of you are wondering, no I haven’t changed my mind – I am still leaving Alaska for Massachusetts, but to be honest the more I have to try to spell the second state the more I start to reconsider.  To be blunt, when I made the announcement I had already reached the point of no return.  I had already accepted the offer, set up the movers, set up the realtor, and already put the notice in to leave where I was at.

But what was good about crossing over that point was I could finally lock in a plan.  The plan is pretty straight forward:
I head to Boston on Sept 3rd for seven days (two of which are travel days) to visit some of the plants I will work with and find a place to stay.
Find the ‘Boston Packers’ Bar on Sept 4th to watch the Packers beat the Seahawks
My last day at BP is Sept 12th
The week of the 15th is for putting off getting everything in order for the movers.
The weekend of Sept 20th, I make a run down to Houma, Louisiana to judge a marching band competition.
The week of the 22nd is for actually doing what I was going to do the week of the 15th.
Movers arrive to pack on Sept 25th, and load up the trailer on the 26th.
Official Going Away bash planned for either the 26th or 27th.
Watch the Packers beat the Bears with my favorite Bear Fan, Strugglebus, Sept 28th
Finish up anything I need to do in the house the rest of the weekend.
Be on the road no later than October 1st-ish
Drive Drive Drive
Visit the Parents Sometime around October 7th-ish
Drive Drive Drive
Arrive in Boston around October 10th-ish
Start My New Job Oct 13th

There are, of course, some items in this schedule that will change, some that will be fuzzy when they happen, and some that will be downright locked in.  But at least now there is a plan.  That is always what makes a move like this move smoother.

As some of you know, this isn’t my first ‘major’  move.  Just two years ago I came from Wichita, Kansas to Anchorage.  While physically, this move is bigger, it is nearly the same logistically (if not made easier by my Alaskan house being only a few light bulbs away from being market ready).  It reminds me more of when I made my move from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Kansas in 2000 – when I left behind a one bedroom apartment.  In that case, there was this long drawn out build up leading to a departure that was on my terms.  Not like the abrupt – one morning I was in 105° dry Kansas, and that night it was 60° rainy Anchorage.  I am more likely going to follow autumn descending on the country side as I move North to South, East to West.

The thing about a plan coming together like this too is that it is really easy to get lost in the work ahead, and to forget about what is still to remember.  There are always two sides to leaving — the person who leaves, and the person who stays behind.  If there is one thing I learned from those times I moved before is that it’s this planning portion that is the most fun for the person who leaves – and the hardest for those that stay behind.  For me, I’ve come to grips with leaving, because simply that was part of the decision I had to make — telling people I am leaving is the first they hear about it, and that is something they still have to come to grips with.  So right now is the rush of me talking about what I have left to do, and the plan, and the process.  The emotional part of it is coming, I know it will.  That’s part of the reason there is so much time in there free for me.  I want to get to Seward one more time.  I want to see Denali one more time.  I want to hang with my friends one more time.  I want to laugh, to cry, to say goodbye.  I know that will come – heck, some of it I have planned, but right now it’s just the plan that is in front of me.