I suppose I should start at the beginning. Not THE beginning, but the beginning of “life in England.” Since 1) I had never moved to another country, and 2) I had never been moved by the military (in my adult life), it was a fairly stressful experience.
First, Andrew moved in. We spent our first 4 months of marriage apart, since he was finishing up his technical training in North Carolina. Another person in a 1-bedroom apartment is a little cramped. I had tried (really hard!) to make room for his clothes, but it was a tight squeeze! Well, that was nothing compared to the apartment after 2 bridal showers and all of Andrew’s belongings that had been in storage. I think the movers are still amazed that it all fit into one little apartment.
Next, the movers came. I think it took them about 6-7 hours to box everything up and move it to the truck. Andrew was in charge of helping the movers (mostly observing and making sure things were packed well), while I stayed in the bedroom to keep Tigger (my kitty) company. And to prevent escape attempts when the movers had to move the bedroom furniture.
Ah, I miss that cute little bridge by the apartment. And having my car. 😦 Yes, that was the next thing: selling my car. Thankfully, my friend Steve wanted a car to replace his reliable but aging van. So that was a smooth transaction. I just miss the freedom of being able to drive wherever I want, whenever I want.
We spent the night at our friends’ apartment (also newly married!). It was nice to spend some time with them before we had to leave the area (and the country). We had to get up bright and early again to be at the apartment when another set of movers came to pack up our to-put-in-storage items. It was mostly books and glassware, I think. So it didn’t take them long at all. Then we headed up to Shawano to visit Andrew’s grandparents and parents. It was nice… they have a cottage on a lake, so it’s relaxing. I’m just not sure how much I could really relax knowing we were moving in a few days.
Then back down to the Milwaukee area to pack up the car (we each could bring 2 pieces of luggage) and get Tigger. Time for… a road trip! Ah yes, 10 hours in the car with a cat who doesn’t like car trips. Fun! It actually wasn’t too bad. Tigger did pretty well once I let her sit on my lap instead of in the carrier. The worst part was traffic in Chicago (what’s new?) and being crammed in like sardines. Besides the luggage, we also brought some things for my sister (mostly food items we couldn’t pack & candles, which we also couldn’t pack) and my parents. My sister even got my vacuum cleaner out of it — we didn’t pack it since we needed to clean the apartment once everything was out of it.
We arrived in Nashville pretty late. We were really tired, but I don’t think I slept that great. Nerves, I’m sure. Tigger seemed to get used to her new surroundings fairly quickly. I’m SO grateful Becki was able to take Tigger in. There was no way we could afford to bring Tigger to England, and with her being 14 already, I just couldn’t handle putting her through such a big move. But there was no way I was bringing Tigger to a shelter either! Happily, Tigger and Becki continue to do great together!
After we took Becki out for brunch, I said my sad good-bye to my kitty, and we started our drive to Chattanooga, where my parents live. That was a pretty quick drive, thankfully! They took us out to eat at Sticky Fingers: 
Delicious! Here are Andrew’s actual sticky fingers 😛
It was nice to see my parents and my sister (and her boyfriend) before leaving. Why did we drive all the way to Chattanooga to go to England? Well, Andrew was shipping his car over, and there are no ports in Wisconsin. The closest was either the New England area or Atlanta. And my parents happen to live just a few hours from there. It made me really happy that we had family to see us off!
We may be smiling, but it was a sad moment. I really didn’t want to stop hugging them and saying good-bye, but eventually, we just had to go. Our first flight was to Texas (I know, silly to be going backward instead of forward!), where we had dinner before hopping on our flight to London.
On An Even Kiel 