I finally drew a line in the sand and decided to just bite the bullet and move out. It was pretty insane to do that without anything set in stone. I picked a date and worked with the moving company and had a massive clean out of the house. I reached out to my friends and family and I will, forever be grateful to each of them. I don't think I would have ever been able to survive the stress that was associated with the move and clean up without the support of all my loved ones. Physical limitations aside, I was experiencing the worst side effects of the stress - massive amount of hair loss, insomnia, weight loss and most of all, depression. I finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, organizing the massive clean up was an effort that never ceases to amaze me. The endless bags of stuff that went to Goodwill, stuff being sold and most of all, stuff being relocated to family and friends, I couldn't believe how much stuff we managed to accumulate since we returned from Shanghai. Emotional attachments to all the items, the hardest part for me was clearing out my massive collection of cookbooks. I lovingly selected every cookbook but had to close my eyes and put it into a box and relocate a majority of my books to May's house. I know that the books will be lovingly used and I get to visit them when I return for my home visits.
When the final day came, the moving truck packed everything up, cleared out the house and drove off. Simultaneously, I packed up my car and drove away from the house. I didn't even have a formal moment to do a final walk through. I just left and didn't look back. I knew if I did a walk through, it would have made it that much more harder for me to leave and I would have been an emotional mess. As I was leaving Stamford, I made a final pit stop at my attorney's office to drop off the keys to the house, the manuals for all the appliances and other documents. My time constraints made it very hard for me to see anyone. There were many people that I wanted to see and say farewell to before I hopped to get on a plane to be reunited with my family. For those that I didn't get a chance to see, I apologize and trust that we'll see each other in California or somewhere in the world.
When I arrived into San Francisco, it was surreal to be reunited with my family at the baggage claim area of San Francisco Airport but it was very long overdue. Our reunion was short lived. Shortly after I arrived and had lunch with Tony and Matthew, two hours later, Tony left for a business trip. Not sure if he was trying to tell me something. Honestly, he did the same thing to me when Matthew and I arrived in Shanghai. We arrived and the next morning he took off for Korea. Hey, I'm OK. I hit the ground running. I had to drive Matthew to school the next day and be working virtual to support the office with east coast hours. Give me credit, at least I remembered to pick up Matthew from school.
