The last three weeks have seen free time redirected to sorting, culling, packing, storing, transporting and unpacking. For the second leg of our sabbath year we’re putting our belongings into storage & relocating to the East Coast.

Moving always seems to be more work than I anticipate. I remember in college once thinking I could empty my half of the dorm room in time for a 6pm dinner, only to find myself finishing for a 6am breakfast instead. Between each move I half-forget the difficulty and my optimism returns.

This time I tracked where we spent our time – data is the surest cure for optimism.

(On the subject of data, I also took the opportunity to document every possession our family owns on a spreadsheet that includes 19 columns of details: purpose, size, weight, cost, would-sell-for, etc. I also did a bit of work on the topic of price-v-time efficiency of Craigslist vs garage sale vs donating for clearing out no longer needed items.)

On vacations I often wonder if the hours of transport to get to a destination are worth the relaxation obtained once there. Would it not be net positive for relaxation to just stay put?

During this move I have wondered the same thing. We hypothesize it will be worth the effort for many reasons that align with our sabbath goals, but during the upfront investment, the returns seem long off and uncertain.

Any move is a lot of work, this one presented a rather difficult packing/storing job. We had to decide what to bring with us on a trip that where the length was between 3 months and unknown, temperatures would range from 30-90*, my wife would change sizes (and thus clothing needs) from pregnant back to normal, our children would range from newborn to 4 years and all grow one to two sizes during that span. Not knowing exactly where we would be living for much of it also presented issues of which kids items to bring – high chairs, potty seats, cribs, etc. In total we fit everything into three duffel bags & the entire non-cockpit space of our minivan.

We spent our last day in Seattle (for now) as a family riding the giant white Ferris wheel on the waterfront the boys had admired every time we drove past over the past two years. Blocks away from my old office, we walked leisurely along the pier as I remembered it had been exactly two months since my last day at work.