When you have a five-bedroom home full of “stuff,” it takes a while to empty it of everything but the essentials.
We got an early start, beginning the process in early January 2024. We even put our houseplants up for sale! While Will worked on that (getting way more familiar with Facebook Marketplace than he ever wanted with hundreds of listings), I was busy gathering paperwork and continuing to research what we needed to do to move ourselves and our nine-year-old goldendoodle, Leo, with us.
Knowing I get easily overwhelmed, I contacted some pet relocation services, eventually deciding to go with another of James Blick’s recommendations, Pet Relocation International. Elaine and I had our first conversation in January and kept in touch throughout the year. Elaine put my mind at ease about moving our pet, which I fretted about quite a bit. Leo would have to travel in cargo, and with the horror stories I’d heard over the years, I wasn’t looking forward to that aspect of the move. Leo was my third child, after all.
The months leading up to the summer relocation to Raleigh flew by, and before we knew it, we were filling up our tiny storage unit with the things that would not be moving to Spain with us.
You might be asking why we relocated to Raleigh for just a few months. There were a couple of underlying reasons for this. The first was that our renter would be moving into our house at the beginning of June, and we needed somewhere to go. We’d never spent much time in North Carolina, and exploring a new location appealed to us. The second was that if we returned to the United States in a few years, we were unlikely to move back to Tennessee. Instead, somewhere like Raleigh was on the shortlist, so we decided this was as good a time as any to get to know the city. As North Carolina residents, we could apply for visas through the Washington, D.C. consulate.
Raleigh was a great town–one we could see ourselves living in for a more extended period if we returned to the States someday. Our landlord was phenomenal, and our experience there was great. But we knew it was short-term, so it was impossible to get too comfortable.
Our visa appointment at the end of June was quickly approaching, but we had run into a snag. North Carolina was experiencing a backlog with issuing driver’s licenses as it changed vendors. Our driver’s licenses, which proved our state residency, might not arrive in time for our appointment. In other words, this could precipitate a domino effect, requiring us to cancel our long-awaited appointment.
More on that in the next edition of poco a poco …