Ready..or not…Go !
25
Jun
Lots of things  happen when you announce ” WE ARE MOVING”.
Lots of emotional realities to deal with – a mix of positives and negatives.
Relationships inevitably change and needless to say, lots of farewells, goodbyes and well wishes are the final steps in this journey one starts from the day you hear that you need to uproot, to the day you finally step foot on the plane to leave your “host country” to head on to your new life somewhere else.
Last week they packed up our house.
That explains also the long silence in me posting. It is definitely by no lack of things on my mind to share. Moving to a new country does somehow tend to consume your life for a while, no matter how well you planned it out.
I prepared for the move well in advance and is very pleased that it all went so smoothly and stress-free with packing up.
Being my usual self, I printed these labels for the packers on the morning of the move….
They scheduled packing for SIX DAYS ! – so I  had the opportunity  to prioritize which rooms go first. They could not do it all in one day.
So, I made these labels and they served a great purpose. They indicated which parts were ready to go, which ones needed more attention or was still being occupied by us as a family and what will not be packed after all. Very practical. Very simple.
However, when I stepped back, I knew in my heart that it also had some deeper meaning to me.
When moving, there are parts of you that are ready to move on. Ready for a new adventure, ready to make a change, excited to see new places, meet new people.
And then there are parts of you that need more pampering still… even the day you have to pack up, some emotions are not fully dealt with…simply NOT READY YET…. the part of distancing yourself with the familiar things around you, the breaking out of the social circles you became so deeply involved in, the realities of not being around your dear friends on a daily basis -even though promises of “we will come visit you” is heard on almost every occasion! Parts of your inner self, takes longer to adjust to the realities you face when moving away – and mostly those parts are involving people…but also to some extent places… not being able to walk into your favorite store, or smell the bakery you loved, or enjoy the hustle and bustle of a favorite spot or the happiness I felt when I visited my favorite place – the fabric market.
It gave me great pleasure during the move, to rip off the NOT YET labels and replace them with READY TO PACK ones, as I finished off rooms to be packed. And so it will be with me as well. I know that some parts of me will become “READY” somewhere in this process as they get replaced with new places to go and new people I meet. And some emotions have to be packed up, even if you are not ready….. time has come when those movers knock on the door  and then you have to go – Ready or Not !
But the STAY IN THE HOUSE labels remain the special ones. Some things will not physically go with me… it will remain in Seoul…just like the firewood and things that belonged to the house …- my friends, my memories, the sunlight  that came into my big windows, the neighborhood I loved, the ambience in the house I loved….
It is sad not to be able to take everything with me on this journey going forward. But it does not mean that I will not carry it forever in my heart and in fond memory of a place and people that I learnt to love dearly.
I will miss Seoul, my S (e) oul  sisters and the life I lived here.
Hundreds of boxes were filled during the packing… as was my heart over the past four years. I leave with my heart full and not empty….and even though it is always sad to leave….
It is better to leave than to have never came…..
Ilze
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