Holy sh*t this is it…

We are down to just about a month left in Beijing and that is hard to believe and a little hard to swallow. We are dealing with it by basically not dealing with it. We want to enjoy our last weeks here and not be too engulfed in the logistics of leaving.

Still, we are steadily moving through piles of crap in our house, trying to winnow it out and make the move a bit saner. We are going on some final shopping sprees, before our house gets packed up and moved out on December 1. I am panning some final shows for Woodie Alan, dubbed The Holy Shit This Is It (For Now) tour.

But mostly we are just living our lives. We are talking about the move more and more with the kids. They all seem pretty good with it. I think it is good that we are returning to our house, which removes a whole level of stress and anxiety. Seeing how many people just move on from place to place with no center, or sense of home for them or certainly for their kids, I feel very fortunate in that regard.

As I’ve written before, Anna took the news the hardest at first, bursting into tears. She doesn’t really know any other life. She seems fine now. She has a best friend move away and a week alter she barely remembers their name. I know she will adapt the fastest of all of us when we get back.

Eli is still very excited.

Jacob is taking it well. In a way he is giving up the most of the three. He has a really great group of friends, which has been remarkably stable for three years in the midst of so many people coming and going. He is right in the middle of a million things and loves school. He sort of gets it about what he is giving up and the tradeoffs inherent in the process. I am proud of his maturity. Two of his best buddies are also leaving next month, returning to London and New Zealand. That definitely eases the sting for him – and makes it all the worse for a few of his buddies left here, who are losing three of their best pals in one fell swoop;

I have taken the time recently to go back and read some of my earliest posts upon arriving in Beijing from August, 2005, and I got a kick out of them. They are a lot of fun for me. I am so lad I have this blog and my columns – at least I know this all really happened and wasn’t some crazy hallucinatory dream.

I have also begun work on a special farewell column for my Chinese language readers. If I ever do finish that, I will share it up here as well.