The current state of the pallet.
We’re experimenting with what to take and what to leave behind, and piling up various configurations of it on the driveway. Pretty soon we’ll have a good enough idea of how and what will fit and the pile will move indoors.
Since my project is called Two Suitcases, I took the idea of moving to France with two suitcases pretty seriously. Well, with two suitcases apiece. Eventually it came to me that, though it would offer me to opportunity to partially replicate my parents’ arrival in the same part of the world in 1940, it was a thoroughly romantic – and therefore impractical – notion. We shifted our thinking to shipping one pallet of boxes.
Right now the boxes making the cut contain: the library I’ve collected to use as background material for Two Suitcases, a few boxes of my papers and other books, some of Tom’s papers and books, framed photos of the family, art, kitchen things, winter clothes, and some items to make our new home feel like our old one. Carpets, my computer, Tom’s keyboard, and more art will be shipped separately.
Most of my days are filled with sorting and packing. This box has our favorite mugs at the bottom, some delicate pieces of art and glass in the middle, and at the top, some of the birds that lived in our houseplants or flew around the ceilings in our home here.
At its center, packed very carefully, is the crystal bell my father bought my mother with his first paycheck in 1943, less than a year after they arrived in Philadelphia. He always said he bought it to remind her of what is important.
A thoroughly romantic notion.
Eve Neuhaus 
Dear Eve,
“Two Suitcases and One Pallet” sounds like it could be the title for a book! Maybe it is!! It is so amazing what you and Tom are doing with your lives; like so much, I can hardly grasp it! Just having your big party gathering on June 23rd, my 79th birthday, sends my ageing brain spinning!!
And here we are now, today, June first, the last month of the first half of 2018! It is my birthday month for me and my two sons, Henry and Nathan already turning 39 and 42! I can feel you celebrating every day, as am I, even if it is challenging, like last Friday, when I/we had to help precious Phoebe kitty leave her body… We had her 10 of her 13 years of life. Of course her spirit continues to live on in my and many hearts!! I’m sure you remember her sitting next to Adonis in my photograph of them sitting together on one of my piano chairs! And they hung on the wall at Mama Ganache, a special memory in my heart. Right at this moment, Adonis is on my lap hanging his body over my lower right arm as I type and he is purring. He has had a hard time accepting that he won’t see Phoebe anymore and continues to search for her.
Oh my, I didn’t plan to write to your “Two Suitcases and One Pallet” post about Donny Boy and Phoebe! Well for me, writing is like sitting down at the piano composing word for word, like note by note… I never know what is going to come out!
So looking forward to seeing you, Tom and others on June 23rd! If by chance my son Nathan is in town on that date, I’ll keep you posted. As you may know, after he competed his MBA in one year at the University of Oxford in 2008, he continued living in the UK in London. And now he is living in the Bay Area working on a big carbon free transportation project with the expansion of the two Google Campuses. He will be using his PRT system of transportation that he designed for part of Heathrow Airport a number of years ago. If you have a moment, Google his company called “Podaris.”
With LOVE to you and Tom, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nancy (805) 462 – 3434
Save journey for you both and all the boxes!!!! Lots of love, Lynne