I Will Drive 503.6 Miles (or 809km)

Actually, Daniel drove most of it.

At the end of November, we decided to move back to Waterloo, date dependent on when we found someone to take over our lease.  We had a pretty casual attitude about it, we'd find someone sometime between January and July. A week later, much to our surprise we found someone to take over at the first of January. At the beginning of December, Daniel went to Waterloo to find us a new apartment, and a week after that, we had signed a lease and had a moving van booked. 

Since then, things have been a bit of an exciting blur.  We went from being perfectly settled in NJ and leisurely making plans for a Christmas trip to Colorado, to: "We-Are-Moving-Back-To-Canada-In-A-Month-Time-To-Wrap-Up-Everything-Now".  Every night after work, I would take boxes home from work and pack up a few things. First some books, then the games, then some clothes. It was genuinely satisfying to see things tucked away in cardboard.

We had family visitors in mid-December who helped with a bit of packing and made sure we were fed and watered after work every night (and fed and watered well!). We had the first of many mini-Christmas-celebrations with them then.  There were holiday Christmas parties with work, goodbye visits and parties, and as much socializing as could be fit in with the general make-up of our days that were primarily: Work, Pack, Sleep, Repeat. The entirety of December buzzed by.

One of the highlights of December was getting something checked off my New Jersey Bucket List: Seeing a New Jersey Devils game.  It was a last minute invite by some awesome friends.  We got to visit with them and see a super exciting game.  It was a win-win scenario for us.

It was Habs vs. Devils.  It went into overtime and was super exciting.

And then, all of a sudden it was moving day. We had decided to do it all ourselves.  One truck. 2 people. A lot of elbow grease.  It was weird to simultaneously feel like we don't have many belongings (Oh wow!  all of our stuff fits into the back of a truck!) to having too many belongings (oh. wow. Our stuff fills a truck).

Daniel tetris'd all of our stuff perfectly into the back of a truck.

The last night in our empty apartment we were wiped out, asleep by 9:30, sleeping on the floor, just like when we first arrived... Well, not just like - this time we slept on a proper mattress, not camping pads. 

The last few things to get packed up are always so odd.

The next morning, the weather was perfect, and we were off! The border crossing was quick and simple, and it was heartwarming to have the officials welcome us home. As soon as we crossed into Canada, it had started to snow.  It was a perfect welcome home gift... well, until it turned into a proper storm, and we couldn't see the road and realized that u-hauls aren't equipped with snow tires.  Fortunately Dan is a winter driving super hero, and delivered us safely to our overnight spot with Sean and Nicole, just in time for dinner (and it was delicious!)

The next morning, Sean, Dan and I unloaded the truck into our new place, and once again we were struck with how much stuff we have. 

Unpacking is one of my favourite things.

At this point, 95% of the unpacking is done. My goal is to have it done by the time of my next post - that way it will be apartment tour time again!

Princeton was an awesome adventure full of good things and excellent people. It was time for a new adventure. We're happy to be back - it feels like home.