Special Delivery

Last month I wrote about our Packing and Moving experience, when the moving crew took over our home for 3 days. They packed all of our belongings and loaded them onto a 40-foot shipping container to be transported to Dubai by sea. The last time we saw our things was November 30.

After about 7.5 weeks, we were given the official delivery date when our container would arrive here in Dubai at our doorstep. I was telling some of my friends here about the anticipated arrival of our container, and they immediately responded with joy and excitement on my behalf. Most people that live here have been through the process, so they know exactly what we are experiencing. I was told it would feel like Christmas as the boxes were unloaded, a wonderful thing to have our belongings back with us and to finally start to feel at home.

On delivery day, I heard the big truck even before it pulled up. It was indeed quite exciting! And I have to admit, it was surreal seeing that steel container, knowing that the last time I'd seen it was thousands of miles away and what felt like another life.

Once the truck was in position, the workers opened it up to get to work. And it was at this EXACT moment that I pretty much lost it.

Seeing the inside of the container immediately transported me back to the moment it was being sealed up, back at "home" in Katy.

I was instantly overcome with emotion, remembering fondly our former home and community. The tears started flowing freely and I had to run inside to compose myself. Who knew that a silly shipping container would trigger such strong feelings? I wasn't sure why it hit me so hard, but I had a tough time shaking my emotions.

Luckily I was able to stay busy, focusing on the task at hand. The crew of workers immediately began unloading our boxes and taking them inside to their new home. Connor and Kaitlynn pitched in to help keep track of the box numbers, and I was mainly directing the workers from room to room.

It took several hours to unload the truck. There were 273 boxes, after all! I snapped one more photo as the truck pulled away. Why was I so sentimental about the dang container??

After the container was emptied, the workers immediately began setting up the bed frames and other big furniture while I focused my attention on the kitchen. I can't believe I didn't take a photo -- there were boxes stacked to the ceiling (I'm not exaggerating!), and I methodically began unpacking them one by one. By the end of the first day, I had completely unpacked the kitchen, and our beds and heavy furniture were all assembled. Finding sheets for the beds, on the other hand, was another story. (Kaitlynn ended up sleeping on the game room sofa that night because I simply couldn't find her sheets amidst the mess!)

Two funny stories from Day 1 of the unpacking. First, it wasn't long into the unloading of the container that Jeff spotted an important looking box in the garage. It was a box that he had packed himself containing the most critical of items: sports equipment! Ha! Jeff and Connor immediately began playing catch in the driveway. They had missed the sports gear most of all.

The second funny story... this was my first experience with having a company pack my things for me. I've always done that part myself. One of my friends had warned me that I should be prepared before they arrive to pack, because the movers will box up everything, even the bag of trash in your trash can if you're not organized enough. I assumed she was mostly kidding but I made sure to empty my trash cans before the movers showed up in Katy. But apparently I wasn't quite organized enough. As I was unpacking the kitchen stuff here at our villa, I began to see exactly what my friend meant... Box after box of my pantry items, many things that had already been opened and even some with their chip clips intact. The Ruffles and Lays chips in particular made the journey, but not without a lot of "debris" inside the box. Made me laugh!

On day 2 of the process, the entire upstairs was littered with boxes everywhere; there was hardly a path to walk from room to room. I decided to focus my efforts on the master bedroom and bathroom while the crew of workers continued with unboxing and furniture assembly. Looking around and being surrounded by boxes, I was definitely overwhelmed.

It's amazing the things you discover when moving. There were so many times during the process of unpacking where I found myself wondering, "Why on earth didn't I throw this away!" Add to that the things that we just can't use here for various reasons... it makes for an interesting job when you try to find a spot for everything.

Side note: as happy as I was to see most of our belongings, there was one item in particular that wasn't exactly welcome. Clearly it had been damaged in transit. (Joking. Couldn't help myself!)




By early afternoon on the 2nd day, the crew of workers had mostly unboxed and assembled everything they could. Around the time they were leaving, I asked them about mounting the television, installing curtains, and hanging wall décor. I just assumed that since the moving company had uninstalled those things, they would reinstall them as well. Thankfully, Jeff's firm hired another service company who showed up a few days later to do those jobs for us. They arrived at 9:00 am and worked nonstop until 4:30 pm to finish. That's a TON of work! I was SO grateful for that assistance. After all, the walls here are cement and therefore it is no easy task.

And that was it. The rest was up to us! (*gulp*) The challenge was just beginning to make this villa begin to feel like home.