Mommy Adventures: Packing for Four

There was a time when, believe it or not, I actually loved packing. Perhaps, it was the promise of adventure that came with it that got me into the activity. The fact that we had our ever reliable Manang Virgie to take care of the unpacking after the trip was always a pleasure. In fact, I actually have a quite a talent in it — especially compared to B and Tyler. I always keep it practical because I love traveling light.

If there’s one thing I learned about being a mother is that traveling light is deemed next to impossible. There are just so much essentials that the children need. Plus, of course, they’d always want to bring toys and books along.

It’s packing time again for us, but nope, it’s not for that cheap all inclusive holiday that I had hoped for (and so badly need). Let’s just say, an opportunity presented itself to Um recently that calls for us to move. We’ve had a fair share of moving experiences back in the Philippines, and we’ve learned that no matter how many times you’ve done it before, it never gets easier.

The only moving experiences I have here were B’s – the first time she moved into an apartment of her own back in 2005, and her move from that apartment to her house last year. Those experiences, however, seem to be irrelevant to the things we need to cover for our impending move. Even the moving experience from the Philippines to the US also doesn’t seem to apply.

It’s totally an unchartered territory for us and we have no idea how to start. It’s scary and, if you’re a parent like me, you’ll know how much little you can risk because you don’t want to mess up the kids’ childhood (or worse, life)!

Nonetheless, we’re excited for this change. After all, we’ve been waiting for this to happen for so long. I once read: If you pray for sunshine, don’t complain about the heat.