There is an expression about taking things one step at a time. This is great advice when you have a daunting task or project. The thing is, when you have a tight timeline and a lot to do, it isn’t so much about one step at a time as it is about optimizing which steps work well together in parallel and which need to run one after another. It is all about optimization.

I feel like right now I’m taking about eighteen different steps all in different directions. I’m struggling to stay on top of things and balls are dropping. I’m learning to prioritize. Interestingly writing this is part of the prioritization because I don’t want to lose all the thoughts that are happening as I go through this crazy time.

My mother-in-law asked the other day about our stress levels associated with the move. We looked at each other and reflected on why we were not stressed, and why we were able to handle the various uncertainties involved in this plan – and that was, that staying is just as uncertain as going. The difference is that staying will mean the uncertainty around here lasts longer – where going the uncertainty is largely in the this time of transition, but will become better managed once we get to the other side of this move. Once we are happily living someplace in the Halifax area, we will be more content – and that is what this move is all about.

Today we had two boxes delivered from UHaul. This are boxes that we will pack up and which will allow us to remove a lot of stuff from the house here. Yesterday we signed with a real estate agent who will sell our home. It will likely show up in MLS on Friday and they will come on Monday to take photos, so it needs to be stage-ready at that point — which is ambitious, but things change daily around here.

Right now Santa Clara county is in a good place. With a lot of California taking a pause (or step back) to help contain the spread of Covid, Santa Clara county is actually opening things up. The county is not on the watch list, which means the spread here is pretty contained; however, there are counties nearby where that is not the case, so I don’t know how long things will be OK here – that is the uncertainty part. Our goal is to have the house sold before things take a turn – because we feel that at some point they will – which is in part why we are making the move.

And so, today we got some shipping containers to start packing up various boxes. These will be shipped to Maine, where we will have them unpacked into a UHaul truck that we drive across the border. There are so many moving parts, my list of to do items is a mile and a half long!

So, it is not one step at a time but more like 18 well choreographed steps, with the occasional stumble along the way.