My brother came to the United States about 10 years ago to make a living. His first assignment was in Boston and most of the time he was in Boston working for the same company. About 3 years ago, he moved to New Jersey for an assignment and worked for more than a year and then he moved to Virginia and worked for over a year now. Now he has an assignment in Boston with the same company that he worked for about 7 years. So having said that, I went to my brother's apartment this past weekend to help him pack up his things and moving him to Boston.
When my brother had come to the US, he came with two suitcases filled with his clothes and belongings. Now after 10 years, I see all the things he had purchased to make his home lively. He has a big collection of movies, telescope, home theater system along with all the basic furnitures and paraphernalia.
We started the intimidating task of packing up and as we were packing each and every item that he needed, we were remembering when he bought that item. This whole chore served two purposes - packing the needed items and cleaning/throwing away the not needed ones. Some of the furnitures, he did not want to move to Boston, so we left it near the dumpster for other apartment people to take it if they needed it. We packed all his items in cardboard boxes and loaded it in the mini-van that he had rented. His van was full of basic furnitures, cardboard boxes, kitchen items and such. Over time he had collected a lot of items and with that packing becomes difficult as well.
Why he did not want to move some of the furnitures to Boston? He has decided to move to his homeland, where he came from ten years ago, same time next year in 2008. So this ended up being the first round of cleanup and packing. After this year, the final round of cleaning and packing will happen in Boston and then he will come back to Virginia to spend a month or so with me and then he will fly back to his homeland - where his heart belongs.
For me, this weekend gave a full body workout; having to pack, lift and move the boxes to the van which was two floors below. Do this fifty times and you get a body that is chiseled to your perfection. But mentally, I was down. The fact that my brother is moving away from me to Boston and then in a years' time, he will be flying far away from me, thousands of miles away, forever. It is a setback for me and I will have to work it out. I will keep my chin up, bring out that deceiving smile and have my guards on - bring it on!!
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