The moving company let me know that it would take 6-8 weeks for our belongings to get to Costa Rica by ship so I chose to pack up our house about 5 weeks before our move so we be at our new home in CR for a very short time without our furniture, That was good in theory but it did make it hard for our last 5 weeks in Memphis.
My main objective for getting the house ready was to have 3 divisions: goes on the ship, storage unit in Memphis, and I had to keep what we needed for the next 5 weeks to go in suitcases with us when we move. I did have all the help I wanted when it came time but I mostly had to do this myself because no one else can really make those decisions.
Luckily, my parents came in town often to help and my in-laws were also very helpful during this time. By the time the movers actually came I had touched about every item in my house at lease 3 times. The movers did their work in 2 days! 
To be completely transparent I had to show this picture. This is my dining room. This was the DO NOT TOUCH room. The first day that the movers were there I was just throwing stuff in this room so that they wouldnt pack it. It was a mess. 
After day 1.
Day 2. I left that afternoon to get the crew some lunch and saw that on the side of the truck someone had written “no crying” on the side. I thought that was fitting. It all seemed very real at that moment.
