Today we had a meeting with the housing liasion to work on getting a timeline and sequence of events established for exiting our rental house here in Belgium.

There are laws governing notification of the landlord, protocols for pre-exit housing inspections, final inspections, and the turning over of the keys. The chimney must be swept and the furnace serviced and certificates stating that has been done obtained. There are different procedures to be followed for notifying the phone company, Internet service provider, and cell phone carrier. There's a method for ensuring payment of the final electric, water, and gas bills.

There are letters to be prepared in Dutch and letters to be prepared in French. There are issues with shutting down bank accounts and stopping automatic payments. There's a set method for getting a return of our letter of guaranty. And of course, there's all the stuff related to canceling renters insurance, adjusting coverage, blah, blah, blah.

Then there's the careful orchestration of household goods and car shipments, borrowing furniture to use,  finding a place to live for a few weeks between exiting our house and moving to America, ensuring that medical and school records are in hand, and that everything is in place on the other end when we arrive. I am so glad we already have a house and know where the kids will be going to school.

These are the days when I'm grateful that E is the most anal retentive person I know.  An international move requires the skills of someone who is detailed oriented and determined in following through on every task and ensuring it gets done and done on time.  I'm great at organizing and list making and putting things in motion, but I'm just silly and naive enough to believe that things will get done because I put them in motion and jumped through the hoops on my end. I never expect to have to follow up and make sure the worker bees and bureaucrats do what what they're supposed to do on their end. E, who has worked as a civil servant all his adult life, knows all about the importance of the follow through and follow up. He's tenacious like a pitbull but affable like a cocker spaniel. He knows how to grease the wheels politely.

So as we cruise into the start of the holiday season, I'm making a list and checking it twice, and that list has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or Christmas preparations....

November 20, 2007