Thinking about the move...

We are thinking a lot about the move to Italy lately. This week I submitted information to the relocation company with data about us that they need to get the paper work ready. Things are moving at work around the upper management approval, although I don't know the exact status of that yet.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night (mainly because the cat was sick) but after I was awake, I couldn't fall back asleep. I started obsessing about what happens if we can't rent our place here, will we have enough money to live reasonably in Italy, etc. I couldn't sleep so I got up and created a spreadsheet in order to just get some numbers down to sort it out and get it out of my head. Now that I'm starting to see some real numbers in the form of estimates for the move and everything at work, it is filling my head. What we really need is to meet with the Relocation consultant, tax consultant, etc. and start asking a gazillion questions.

Tonight I was reading our Living in Italy book and looking for banks online. Just something to do. It was a rough day at work and I can't seem to focus on anything since I've been home. Today was the last work day for many of the people at work who have been laid off, and it's affected me quite a bit. It's been quite a few years since I've experienced this at work, and at the time I wasn't in the position of being a manager or really knew the people who left. It's different when they are members of your team. Right now I'm looking forward to getting on to my new position and getting ready to move to Italy. I move out of management 10/1 but have a few more responsibilities that will bleed into mid-October, and then I'll be back to being an engineer again. I am finding that I am really looking forward to it...