Week 37

Almost there!

It is week 37 and I am ready for this to be over. Not that it has been a terrible ordeal. Su Zan has been an uneventful pregnancy when compared to her brother and sister. The only significant negative event was the low potassium.

Now I wrestle with insomnia. Getting comfortable is difficult. Especially with Jared not being home. Why has no one invented a tummy bed yet? They have face beds for massages. There should be tummy beds for pregnant women.

Jared will be home sometime this week. We will receive the details of the ship’s arrival tomorrow. We have our “Welcome Home” posters ready, and the weather is supposed to be comfortable this week. It seems Su is to be the favored one and her father will be present for her birthday, providing she waits a few more days at least.

I will say this school is very accommodating for the children when it involves a ship returning. The children are not penalized for missing school that day, not that I would prevent them from welcoming their father home in any case. At Yokosuka, they were marked as having missed a day adding to the absence tally.

The timing is excellent. I will have Jared at home to help me after the birth for a few days then he will return to his normal schedule to depart again as the Navy sees fit. But I will have him for a couple of weeks at the least. The children will have their father for a time. We will be together again.

It is going to be a good few weeks.

Movers and Potassium

 

If you read everything you can about PCS moves you discover they are a simple process that, aside from some minor hick-ups, are uneventful. You also discover that they can be traumatic voyages to the nether regions of hell. It all depends on who you read. I have survived four PCS moves. Each one was unique.

My first move was only my things going to Japan to join Jared after we were married. It was uneventful and everything showed up on time. Their condition was another matter. Broken picture frames and deeply scratched tables were the order of the day. Our claims took almost a year to settle. By then, I had bought new things.

My second move was to Florida. The Japanese movers were efficient to the extreme. Their attention to detail was phenomenal. There was no damage beyond one picture whose glass was cracked.

My return to Japan was much like the first. Damaged furniture and destroyed picture frames. This time though, they managed to break my couch in half. Again, the claim process took almost a year to settle and by then things were replaced.

This last move to Spain was a repeat of the first move from Japan; the model of efficiency and attention to detail. As good as they are, I thought we would see some damage since it was all traveling half-way around the world. Amazingly, there was very little.

I have concluded that Japanese movers are more efficient than American movers are. Each move with a Japanese company resulted in little to no damages. Each move with an American company resulted in damages of nightmare proportions.

It would be unfair of me to say all American companies are bad. I have not been moved by all of them.  The ones that have moved my things are certainly not a shining example for others though but what can you expect when the movers chosen to take my things to another place are the ones who gave the lowest bid?

On Tuesday, I experienced a tremendous pain in my chest. To be honest, I thought of a heart attack, but the doctors did blood work and discovered I am low on potassium. I only wonder how that could have happened.

I eat a controlled diet and take my supplements regularly. It seems I am not absorbing enough through diet and my current supplements. The doctor has prescribed a larger dose of potassium. Yay. Another pill. And it is HUGE! I find I must cut it in half to take it. Since I do not want a repeat of that pain, I will dutifully cut pills and take them regularly.

It looks as if Su’s pregnancy is not as problem free as it seemed it would be. Hopefully this is the only bump in the road.

Feeling Settled

 

With my furniture about me, I feel settled now but it will be a few more days before everything has found its place. My neighbors find even the slightest of reasons to visit now to see American style furniture. They go home disappointed when they discover there is little difference though the children’s beds surprise them.

The children are happy to have their tatami mats again. They tend to be a better sleep for them since they are cooler than a regular bed in summer while at the same time warmer in winter.

Jun has surprised me with the care she takes to put her toys away. “Mom! I need shelves!” “Mom! I need bins!” Where were these “needs” before we moved? Before, it seemed she only needed the floor. Dare I say this move has caused her to mature enough to begin to appreciate her things?

Chao lei? “Mom! Why do I need to take this stuff out of one box just to put it in another box?” My reply? “Your choices are to put it away or throw it away.” Harsh? Maybe, but if you leave a possible technicality, he will find it and exploit it. I think he would make an outstanding attorney.

I can relax a little better now that I have my things about me. I still have much to do in putting things where they belong, but my things are here and that is what matters to me. It is easy to say we should have stored it and bought new as we needed to. My reaction to having my furniture and pictures and small meaningful things convinces me that would have been a poor decision.

I believe I will only hope for a shorter shipping time for the next move.