Truthfully, I learn a new lesson every time we move--and in spite of that fact, or perhaps because of it, I don't feel qualified to give advice, but I'll share my experience for whatever it's worth.

I have moved and then discovered my stuff didn't move with me. (My air freight was overweight, and it will not leave the ground until you pay for the extra.) Thus I learned to call and check--especially on the weight of the air freight shipment. Better yet--be sure they weigh it in front of you!

I have moved in only to wait 4 months for our things to arrive. Thus I learned to ask to borrow things from relative strangers. The truth is, somewhere in your career this will happen to you too, and your new post thus has someone whose been through it before, and who will gladly loan you ice cube trays, an iron, and sweaters.

I have moved out with exactly two weeks notice. Thus I learned that I can do anything I have to do, including getting GSO to schedule the packout when I had no real clue when/if the orders would come through before the movers knocked on the door.

I have moved in the last six weeks of my first pregnancy. The baby arrived and exactly one week later so did 5000 lbs of stuff. I do feel qualified to offer this advice--DON'T EVER EVER DO THIS! I spent an entire year trying to find my sanity and everyone around me suffered terribly when I failed to do so. (Just ask Francesca--without whose sensible advice and undying humor I wouldn't have made it.)

I have moved my oldest daughter three times in her first three years of life. Someday I will ask her what she learned from this--I learned that this foreign service life is hardest on those who have not actually chosen it for themselves.

I have moved seven times in the 9.5 years my husband has been in the Foreign Service. And mostly I have learned is that in the end, moves happen. The movers will come and the stuff will go, and you will go too; then on the other end, you will arrive and the movers will come and the stuff will come too eventually. It happens whether or not you're ready and whether or not you want it to happen; and then it happens again in a few years. You'll survive, and most of your stuff will too! Hang in there.

Moving again in 2000,

Shannon Jamison