I left Atlanta for London after ~20 years of living there last week on Thursday night (business class, 10:30 PM flight packed with feather pillows - thanks Delta, I'm allergic and that sucked). The week leading up to that flight was crazy and awesome at the same time. Packing up everything I owned, sorting it into 8 distinct piles:
- Keep in basement
- Give away to Salvation Army
- Send to my brother, Sean's place
- Send to London via Ocean
- Send to London via Air freight
- Take with me on the plane
- Leave in the house for the new tenants (should have made this pile more clear b/c the movers packed even the little things that go in the drain to filter & stop the water)
- A few things to give to my mom
As you might imagine, the house was a wreck in preparations. By the way - be prepared for many bulleted lists - there will be more.
Mom, Grandma & Tom nursed me back to health over the weekend before I left (and took me out of my empty house & air mattress bed) when they invited me to stay with them in Tyrone until I left. It was great & just what I needed. I had been sick for nearly 4 weeks before moving. Trips to Charleston, Chicago (twice), London, Philly combined with all the craziness of relocating to a foreign land had worn me down. My Grandma flew in town to Atlanta just to see me off (and even hosted a big going-away party for family at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Istanbul - Lawrenceville Highway, Decatur). Ibby, Tara, Alison, Duraid, Adam, Mom, Tom, & my Grandma were all there & we had a blast.
After May 13 (when the movers packed everything up), I was living on an air mattress and Sean Lewis taught me the ways of living low profile. Sean is a long-time friend of my brother's (they've known each other since middle school) and now I can count him as one of my own too. It was perfect timing to have him live with me before I left - he's moved 24, and counting, times in his life and was the perfect coach through it all - reminding me to chill out, listening to my frustrations, and just making me laugh.
Sean & I also added some graffiti to the Krog tunnel before I moved. I think it was both of our ways to leave our little stamps on Cabbagetown(C-town is known for its 
graffiti art filled tunnel and surroundings - which I love - and it gives the place its unique feel). I had made this stencil over a year ago (thanks, Jason!) but had never put it up in the tunnel, as intended. I thought about using it before I left, but of course it fell to the bottom of the list.
On the morning of my flight out, I showed it to Sean (we were talking about stenciling b/c Sean's going to launch his own brand through some grass roots marketing - see http://www.kidwiz.tv/). With my to-do list filling 2 full pieces of paper, I had decided not to do any "tagging", as we say, that morning. Sean convinced me to do it - and we did it together and had a blast. In fact its one of the most memorable things I've done in a while. I've been looking proudly over the pictures all week!
The night before I left (May 21), I gathered with friends at 97 Estoria. It was blast and so many people showed up to say good bye - thank you all (Keesee, Marianna, James, Ryan, Frank, Anya, Steve W, Morgy, Scott, Kasia, Danny, Saroya, Jason, Michael, Hussein, ... am I missing anyone?). It was fabulous - thank you all for coming out to support me.
More on my first week in London in my next post.
Things I'm liking right now:
- http://www.internations.org/ a networking site for expats (hoping to meet new friends there - just email me if you want to join)
- The tube - it takes you everywhere, quickly (10 mins to work). Bad news - a monthly pass just for the inside zones (1 & 2) is $180.
- Camino - a Spanish tapas restaurant around the corner from my house in Kings Cross with the best mojitos ever and live guitar on Sundays
