"What is it like, all that moving?"

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone today with an Amica representative, finally closing out all our US-based insurance policies  I really lament that Amica doesn't have policies for people living overseas, because they really have fantastic customer service.  They've been so patient and responsive - from quickly handling a fender bender we had days before we moved to explaining what we should close when based on what situation we were in.  Anyway, that is a different story.  

Today, wrapping up the lose ends, as the agent was reading through the notes in our file over last last two months while we were waiting for the systems to confirm everything was closed out, she said, "wow, Japan. That's really exciting.  What's it like, all that moving?"

I gave her my usual anodyne answer, as that's what people expect to hear: "It has its challenges, but overall is exciting and enjoyable for us."  Then I paused and added, "This move was a little weird, since we don't know when we can visit home next."  She commiserated on the COVID-induced travel restrictions (I mean, even when we were in MD, we didn't visit family in TX, so at some level it doesn't matter where we are).  But, she really wanted to know what it was like to move especially overseas.  

We do it so often, I couldn't really encapsulate it for her well.  But, after I hung up the phone, the perfect example presented itself. 

Moving so much is - having two drawers full of cords and constantly rearranging which ones you are using where, hoping you don't have to buy yet another one, to try and adjust the outlets to fit the way you'd like to set up your house.  In other words, trying to use what you have and know, but also knowing when to let go of the familiar and embrace the new and present.

When you live in one house, you don't really think about the outlets.  Lamps, TVs, gadgets -- all have their proper place.  Maybe an occasional furniture rearrangement or introduction of a new gadget will necessitate a review of what is where, but in general, those sorts of things stay put.  

But over the moves, we've had such oddly placed outlets, and such a variety of plugs, sometimes necessitating transformers, we've accumulated quite the collection. And we try things out and have to adjust when we figure out what does or doesn't work (like after this morning's near meltdown when one child realized, again, he plugged his school laptop into the plug that was attached to the light switch and the switch was off over night... So, what extension cords did we have to enable him to plug in his laptop in that corner of the room rather than another? And praying as we sort through the box that we can use something we have and don't have to buy yet another cord!).  

Thankfully this time, with adjusting a few cords from other rooms, we could use what we had.