"Someday everything will all make perfect sense"

~ fortune cookie

We are moving to China! 11 days from today we are moving to China!! We are leaving our newly-built-just-lived-in-for four-months house with beautiful dark hardwood floors and antique white cabinets and moving to China! We are loading up our FOUR children and all our absolute essentials and getting on a 12-hour long plane ride and MOVING TO CHINA!!!! (Please insert a faint trace of hysteria while reading this.)

This whole process stared about 7 months ago. Scratch that. This whole process started when Cory and I were dating and he mentioned that he would love to live and work in China someday. And I married him anyway. He has since mentioned it a little more, dropping hints, and planting subliminal messages in my mind for the past 11 1/2 years. But 7 months ago the idea was reintroduced with a bit more gusto by my very adventurous husband and was quickly dismissed by his equally dull and unadventurous wife. Wasn't our stint in Berkeley enough culture shock to last a lifetime? And bear in mind that 7 months ago I was approximately 8 months pregnant and the idea was scoffed at almost as equally as was the likelihood of having another child. So in the past 7 months that followed I have entered and recycled myself through the 5 stages of grief:

1. 
   
   DENIAL: I refused to believe Cory was serious. He had threatened so many times in the past and nothing had come of it yet. And this was just like the time he had the notion of quitting college to become a professional golfer. (Oh, wouldn't that have been lovely -- he's no Tiger Woods -- thank goodness.) So I went to the seemingly legitimate lunch meetings with his boss and read a few online articles about living abroad with young kids but dismissed the idea as a fleeting fancy.


2. 
   
   ANGER: As time marched on and he had more frequent serious meetings with bosses and mentors at work and he brushed up on his Chinese to interview with someone in Beijing (while I was in the hospital recovering from my 4th c-section) the denial moved on to panic and the panic gave way to anger. How could he do this to us?!? How did he not know that "If you think this is the best thing for our family" really meant "Move us and die!"? How did he not know that "I love your ambition and drive" really meant "Slow down! My apathy and lack of motivation cannot possibly keep up with your ambition and drive!"? I thrive in comfort zones, I long for comfort zones, I HATE, HATE, HATE leaving my comfort zone! And CHINA, really?!? Why not Europe or South America or anywhere where I've dreamed of going?!? China has never been on my Bucket List!


3. 
   
   BARGAINING: This stage came in many forms. I first had the awesome idea that Cory could commute. He had been commuting the first part of the year to California each week, coming home on the weekends, how much different could commuting to China be? I even started thinking of it this way: If I do this for you, what will you give me? (I did, in fact, get my Mercedes after enduring grad school with 3 children in a car equivalent to the ones at Autopia at Disneyland) so moving to China should earn me diamonds, right? But I have moved on from this. This isn't an I versus you scenario, we are a team and there are things that Cory is giving up as well. And the fact that the relocation package will include a driver, a maid and a nanny with the added incentive that, and I quote, "spa treatments are a way of live here in China" I think that a good bargain has been made.


4. 
   
   DEPRESSION: Let's be honest, I keep bouncing back to this one time and again. I have this uncanny ability to put unpleasant ideas and tasks out of my mind when they are too stressful (case in point: we leave in 11 days and I have not packed up one thing in my house) so whenever this sneaky sad feeling comes over me I just push it aside. But every now and then when I think of the friends I'm leaving behind, not to mention the family that I have come to depend on and the everyday things that I take for granted, it could pull me down to the depths of despair.


5. 
   
   ACCEPTANCE: This was a long time in coming, almost as long as it took to get the final approval from Cory's company to go. And I knew I had made it that day when there was a hiccup at work and there was a possibility that all our plans would fall through and instead of being relieved I was disappointed. Crazy!! I am now excited for the adventures that await us and the experiences that will be gained. I am eager to begin this new chapter in our lives and already feel that 2 1/2 years won't be long enough for us. (Although I reserve the right to retract that statement at any time.)

So let the adventures begin! We welcome you to enjoy it with us (both vicariously and in person -- visitors will always be welcome.) But be prepared -- it might get a little KOOKY!!