Pass the Xanax

So the past month has been full of excitement as we've prepared for our first move with the Foreign Service. Unfortunately, the blog has been neglected during this time, since Chris and I have both had more than enough on our minds, as we've tried to assess every potential problem, both known and imagined, that we might encounter during this adventure. With just four short days left until the movers come to pack up our house, we've noticed that we might be experiencing some classic symptoms of stress.

You might be stressed if:

1. You see only the negative in a situation. For example, the kids mess up their carefully sorted room for the 17th time, and your first reaction is to tell them that all of their toys will be lost, and we will never be able to find them, and they won't ever have anything to play with again, and they will have to sit in their empty room crying and driving you crazy, and then you won't be able to concentrate on what needs to be done, and then nothing will get organized and ready for the movers, and so you won't have the things that you need when you move, and you won't ever be able to find any of your stuff again. (I am, of course, referring to Chris in this situation, as I would never overreact like this.)

2. You suffer from memory loss. What was I writing about again...

3. You constantly worry. For example, you worry that all your underwear will accidentally get packed in permanent storage, that your children won't adjust to the move and will suddenly become catatonic, that you will put your coffee maker in storage and the one provided will suck, that all your essential belongings will be on a plane hijacked by air pirates, that you will never be able to eat all the food in your refrigerator and so it will have to be thrown out and then raccoons will ravage your trashcans, that you will suddenly go into labor and your baby will be delivered by a one-armed hitchhiker on the side of the interstate somewhere in South Carolina...

4. You are moody. Just because you can go from laughing to crying in 20 seconds flat doesn't make you moody, does it? Everyone cries while watching American Idol, right?

5. You have a short temper. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS POST, THEN YOU CAN STOP READING IT RIGHT NOW. I DON'T NEED YOUR CRITICISM. Oops, sorry. I was just worrying that you were thinking that this post compared to a runaway train and that you would never read anything that I ever write again and that this whole Foreign Service experience would then be pointless because there would be no point documenting it in a blog and therefore I would never be fulfilled as a writer and my total existence would be without merit and then the world would cease to have any meaning and so I wouldn't care when I was kidnapped by pirates and forced to help sail their boat off the edge of the world... (oh wait, I think that's a movie.)

All joking aside, despite our mile long to-do list, we are still incredibly excited about moving to Washington, D.C. and beyond as Chris joins the Foreign Service. I take comfort in knowing that after this first move, I will know what to expect from now on.

And now, I have to get back to work.