The End of an Era

Well, I'm sitting here in class, proctoring my last exam...ever.  Maybe.  I am trying to do a good job of looking alert, but honestly, it's hard to stand and seem alert as I stare at the tops of people's heads while they bend down over their tests for 2 1/2 solid hours.  So I sit at the podium and type, and glance menacingly over the top of the screen every few seconds.  Surely that's enough to keep them from cheating...right?

This is my last exam because I have quit my job to move with my husband and family overseas to Saudi Arabia.  We leave in 15 days, the movers come in 4 days to pack up our house, and Christmas is only 10 days away!  Right now, our house looks like a snowglobe that got shaken up.  Will it all come together?  Checked bags, E-box (arrives in 4-6 weeks), surface shipement (arrives in 4-6 months) all have to be planned and packed with all the things two little boys and an infant baby girl would want.  Somehow all our stuff will get there (but maybe not in the right order!).

It's the end of an era.  We came to Charlotte as recent graduates from graduate school, newly engaged, with not much more than a few potted plants, a cat, and a cardboard box to put our (small) TV on.  We didn't even have any lamps and the house had no ceiling lights, so when the neighbors came over one evening to welcome us, we stood and talked in the living room in the dark!  Eight years later, we've got two and a half kids, a cat and a dog, a house full of furniture, full-blown careers, beloved doctors and teachers, and a whole host of dear friends and neighbors, all of whom we ache to leave.  Charlotte has not just been a place to live, it's been our home.  Ending this era is hard to do, but we are setting out on a new course that promises to be full of adventure.  I think we'll look back on this in 50 years and be glad that we tried something new and different.

I'll post these last exam grades, and then my only job is Wife and Mommy!  That part does feel good.  I hope I can come back to work one day, but with three teeny-weeny babes (well, one "big boy", one "little brother", and one "baby sister"), I think I'll enjoy the break.  Off now to pack!  And I've asked Santa not to bring anything that won't fit into a suitcase that measures 62 linear inches on all sides combined!