As advertised, Franklin and I have migrated across the ocean with our dog and a small sampling of our worldly goods in tow. The months leading up to the great exodus were both unbearably stressful and incredibly wonderful at the same time.

The stressful part looked like this: we went through everything in our entire house and either packed it, boxed it for storage, or sold it. We’ve lived in Jerusalem for 8 years, and we’d accumulated significantly more possessions than is in accordance with the simple life we claim to live. It took forever to go through it, but in the end we got rid of about 70% of our non-furniture or guitar related detritus. During the same period of time, our neighbors from down the street moved in with us. They’re among our best friends in the world, so this event mostly belongs on the wonderful list, but for a short while there were 5 humans and three dogs in the house who were all undergoing major life changes and you could cut the stress with a knife. We made it through with a lot of laughter, and I have hope that their dogs will one day recover from the trauma that our dog subjected them to. We also got to deal with the joys of finding a place to live from long distance, planning for the creation of a guitar repair company and accompanying visa so that we can go back to Israel when this is all over, and saying goodbye to friends who are close enough to be considered family.

The wonderful part looked like this: we went to London for Christmas with members of the above-mentioned friends who are close enough to be considered family. We were joined by our biological family, and an amazing time was had by all. Let me tell you, we are a group who knows how to have fun with style. We only publicly embarrassed our host two or three (dozen) times. Afterwards we went skiing in the French Alps. Words fail for the most part, but here are a few that come to mind: private jet, after ski tea, lunch on the slopes, miles of runs, sunshine and champagne. It was a dream, and if I didn’t have pictures, I wouldn’t believe it happened to me.

So now we’re bouncing back and forth between Franklin’s parents in Columbia, SC and my family in Charlotte, NC. We leave at the end of the month for frozen Michigan. Some parts of the move have been more painful than we thought (we really miss our friends, we’re suffering a bit of culture shock, we were floored by the price of medical insurance here, we’re not fond of the NC DMV), but it’s hard not to be optimistic when we think of our upcoming time in Michigan. I imagine myself cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, fly fishing, cycling, and kayaking while Franklin builds guitars and hones his skills - then I remember that I’m an extremely lazy person and I’ll need to get a job. But it still seems like a time of great opportunity. A time to relax from the tensions of the middle east and focus on living day to day in a country where living is easy (despite what you hear from both Obama and Limbaugh). A time to reconnect with family and friends on this side of the ocean, and to remember why we’re glad to be Americans.

Posted by Ree on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 3:17 am.