Shifting to the Left

In the industry, shifting to the left means finishing early. A good thing in almost any situation. To the Troxels, however, shifting to the left has been hectic. It's hard work leaving a country. Sitting here with departure in T minus 12 hours, it's a little easier to look back and accept that we had to move our departure date to one day earlier; given the luggage requirements, the dogs, the baby, and everything that it takes to leave Japan free and clear flying All Nippon was not an option -- even though the time was more convenient.

Shifting to the left does come with its consequences. For instance, disposing of our cars is still not finalized and we're going to be squeezing it in tomorrow morning as a last minute event before departure. There was also a sending off party that was scheduled the day before our departure, which became the day of departure and ended up turning a celebratory and fond farewell into a hasty speech and a "so long" in brevity.

But the benefits outweigh the consequences. We'll be able to get both of our dogs to our new home city of Huntsville and we'll be there in time for me to check in and sign out on official travel. Mission accomplished.

Quite the parable, actually. Anything can be accomplished, but there will be compromises. In this case however, all things great and small have ended well.

Stay tuned, my next post will be from somewhere inside the United States of America (even if it is from one of the not-so-contiguous late bloomers.)

:j