Brandon, FL

So here we are, living in Brandon, Fl ( just outside of Tampa), rudely displaced from our adventures in ChinaLand without even a how do you do. It's been a whirlwind crazy stressed out time that started early July when we were informed that we would be transferred from Shanghai to Tampa in 30 days time. Unfortunately, given that we were in the States at the time, with prepaid non-refundable vacations waiting for us, we couldn't actually start getting ready for the move until flying back to Shanghai, one short week before having to turn around and fly back to Florida, where we had just been vacationing. Exhausting. One word to sum it all up. Bone wearying exhaustion.

The kids and I began the summer mid June in Suwanee, Ga (northeast Atlanta) at my parents house. 10 days later we got the news about our transfer, so I had to go purchase a car, rather than plunk down WAY too much money on a rental car for the summer, as we had previously planned. We then travelled to Hattiesburg, MS to visit my brother and his wife. Usually, I just refer to them as my sister in law's family because she and I are such good friends I almost forget about my sweet brother! (No offense, Ernie) After 9 days in Mississippi Lee flew in to Gulf Port (one hour south) and then we headed to Tampa for some recon work. 3 days in a somewhat lacking La Quinta Inn left us feeling a little grimy (heat + humidity + air conditioner in hotel that didn't quite work= feeling grimy). 7 days of lovely bliss followed at Fort Myers Beach. 7 days of different, but nice vacationing in Pompano Beach ended our sojourn in south Florida. Lee had different flights than the children and I to return to Shanghai, so he headed out via Chicago (I think). The kids and I flew from Miami to Toronto, Toronto to Vancouver, where we spent the night and then finished the trip the next morning to Shanghai. Whew!

Our week in Shanghai was a complete blur of activity. We had a house to pack up, a car to sell, friends to say goodbye to, last minute 'must have' purchases to make, animal transportation to arrange and the list goes on. I struggled with whether or not to bring the kids to China for one last week, but in the end felt that they needed that time for closure. I am thankful that they were with us, even though it was a considerable amount of extra work.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon in Shanghai. Thursday morning at 9 am I had a 'garage sale' to give away/sell America food and China electronics. Mostly we just gave away a lot of stuff. Friday and Saturday were spent running around town getting things done. Sunday the movers came and we then moved to a hotel for the duration. Right in the middle of all this, our clutch went out on the Chinese car. It took 3 trips to the dealer to get it fixed. On the third trip, I had to yell and scream (literally, my throat was sore for two days) to get the car fixed properly. I had about 20 people gathered around staring at the wai guo ren (foreigner) screaming, yelling and throwing things. In the end, they finally fixed the car and thoughtfully delivered it to me at our hotel.

Somehow, only through the grace of our Maker, we were able to get the house packed up, get the car fixed and most miraculously, get the car sold in a week's time. We didn't even bother to try to adjust to Shanghai time. We all fell into bed exhausted each day at 7:30 or 8:00 pm and we were ALL awake every morning around 3:00 am. It made for a very interesting week.

Flying back to Tampa was also pretty painful. We took a 14 hour flight to Newark, NJ where we spent the night at a not so nice hotel. Luckily for us the hotel had a passable restaurant. Once again, we all fell into an oblivion of sleep by 8:00 pm and awoke at 3:00 am with nothing to do but wait for daylight to break. I can't even describe feeling so tired that you are so dizzy that you are worried you will fall over. We had to maneuver 10 suitcases through the airport at each on of our connecting flights. When you are that tired, dealing with the suitcases, customs, baggage claim, shuttles to hotels, dinner and tired kids is an actual nightmare....a living breathing waking nightmare. I shudder to recall the horror!

I took my first taxi in America in over 25 years when we arrived in Tampa. The nice gentlemen called us a mini van taxi, which we crammed full with all our luggage, two sleeping kids and one tired mom. Lee and Ally rented a car and met us at the apartment. My taxi driver was a Chapel Hill graduate, class of 1992, and immigrant from Africa. He was a crack up and at least he was nice and energetic the whole drive home. Eve and Cooper slept through it all and I ended up carrying them both asleep on my shoulder through the hot parking lot into our new temporary apartment.

Whew! What an experience this summer has been.

I'm still tired. I'm still worn out. I'm still not ready to be in Tampa. I'm still longing for Shanghai.

We've found a house, put in an offer and it's been accepted. We go to enroll the kids in their new school on Monday. School starts Tuesday. We've spent the last week house hunting, getting physical examinations done on all three kids so they can enroll, furiously faxing requests to previous doctors for shot records.We've shopped for school supplies, we've shopped for school shoes, more than anything we've taken the dog out to pee since we no longer have the freedom of turning her out into the fenced in yard.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I am looking forward to a day of rest in our little apartment. Looking forward to no realtors, no houses to view and no more online hunting through endless piles of real estate listings.