Lists, lists and more lists...

It is apparent you can never have enough of them when you are moving overseas! Our India master list is ever expanding. It seems the minute I feel I've made a decent inroad one of us remembers another 311 things that MUST be done before we leave (in 25 days).

Lists aside, there are a number of things that make the move seem both more imminent and more real (at least for me):

*I've "retired" from my job as a ICU RN (Bob keeps telling me it's not permanent but I don't know what he's talking about!) I've worked with some amazing and wonderful people at North Memorial in the past 8 years and I've had the privilege of working with one of the best bosses I've ever had this past year.

*I've stepped down as Chapter Leader of ICAN of the Twin Cities. Ask Bob and he will surely tell you that I have dedicated many, many volunteer hours and resources (time, sleep and finances...a portion of which are his!) to the International Cesarean Awareness Network. Starting up the chapter and developing it into a thriving source of education, advocacy and support for local women affected by the ridiculous cesarean rates and limited VBAC options has been life transforming. None of this was accomplished without Julie Maas as my Co-leader nor without the women who have become involved in the chapter and attended the monthly meetings. Leaving the chapter was hard but I know it will grow to be even better under the Leadership of Julie and new co-leader Molly Stefek! I love ICAN! www.ican-online.org

*The Garage Sale finally happened and the interior of the garage no longer looks like a flea market.

* The moving company came by to talk over the move (we're shipping both my air and sea and storing some things) and asked us what was going where! (Uh...you mean you need to know that now? GULP!)

*I realized I could not dedicate time to my midwifery study group (birth, homebirth and midwifery being my passion, it was a decision I did not want to make until we were off the airport!) I can tell you that there are going to be some great new midwives in our local birth scene in the future...

*I got an invitation to attend a Birth India gathering in Mumbai, India in November and realized I could actually go :0)

*We sent an Evite out to all our friends and family for our "Going Away" party on August 4th (if we missed you, send us an email and know we didn't mean to!)

I'm sure that Bob's list is different from mine (I'll get him to post here eventually...) and I'm sure that there will be other "a-ha we're really moving to INDIA" moments in the next month but these strike me at the moment...

Chandra