times they are a-changin'

Harper insisted on playing in the rain on the 4th in Arizona. She's made for Seattle!

Bob Dylan couldn't be more right: the water around us has indeed grown, there will be days we'll be drenched to the bone and the times really are changing for the Ashdown family.

 
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
For the times they are a-changin'.

parking the Uhaul with daddy

There was little time to blog or do much else other than pack boxes and repack them after Harper felt the need to unpack a bit.  Our last few weeks in Tucson were great, we tried to spend time with the people we loved and I was grateful that Brady's work schedule was flexible and rather light so we could sort and pack together.  The last thing I wanted was to have to upgrade to a larger truck for an additional $300 so each box was packed as efficiently as possible (I am embarrassingly good at tetris). After packing the truck with the same efficient use of space and help from some really great people, we had room to spare.

Best way to watch Sesame Street hands down!

As Brady received his job offer from Deloitte nearly a year ago, we have been had more than time to think through the moving process, what to keep and what to sell and what to just get rid of.  It was actually a relief to finally get to start packing boxes.  As I mentioned before, Harper is extra helpful when it comes to taking things apart or out of boxes we mainly packed after she was in bed, which turned into many, many late nights working and feeding our addiction to Mad Men.

helpful Harper loved being part of the action

saying goodbye to the Amezquitas who I met on my mission in 2005

We packed the Uhaul early to beat the heat; Harper was quite helpful and slept through the entire process.  I felt so grateful, but what I didn't realize then was that the real work was about to begin.  Somehow the last bit of cleaning and organizing happen after the truck is packed and there is way more to do than you ever thought and it takes forever!  At one point, Harper entertained herself with a nearly-gone container of hummus, eating it by the handfuls and coating herself and the cooler with the rest.  So as we pulled out of Tucson (about 6 hours later than I had hoped) the three of us squeezed into the front row of the truck, she was simply wearing a diaper.

After all the packing, planning, cleaning and more cleaning, then mopping as I walked out the door, I was so relieved to have finished that I didn't even have the energy to properly say goodbye to Tucson or most the people I loved there.  Maybe that's how it ought to be: you work so incredibly hard to leave a place that you don't have time or energy to lament the end of an era.  But I will always love our time we had there and our first little home where we became parents.

 

before

after

I am now sitting in our new place in Seattle on my own as Brady is in Los Angeles for his first week (then he'll be in Dallas next week).  Harper and I have had a good time exploring and seeing what our beautiful neighborhood has to offer.  The zoo is only a mile away and our Tucson zoo pass transfers so we've been twice already.  But I have to be honest--I miss being surrounded by familiar faces and places.  A few days before leaving, I was feeling so sad about saying goodbye and then it struck me.  I got to take Brady and Harper with me, I wasn't going alone.  They are my world and they still would be my world in Seattle.  I am so grateful for the years we spent in Arizona and am filled with excitement for new faces and places.  The times indeed are changin'.