Yesterday, beginning of the season of Sadiversaries. Today?

Stephen conducts the wine box choir
(or packs books and other media for
shipping across the country)

Two years ago today, Stephen and I sent our possessions in a large shipping container and then hopped into my fully-packed Honda Civic with the two furbabies and began our trek across the country.

Last phone call to disconnect some
utility or other (probably 'nets)

As soon as you're able to get on I-40
from the left coast of the country.

It's so rare that I get a good pic
of the moon!  I keep trying, tho...

Cocoa enjoying the view

It would have been a five-day trip, but the container wasn't picked up right away, and then we still hadn't completely cleaned the place, so Day One was a short-ish drive.  Since Mommy had died on the road, we had planned everything to leave on the 29th, not the 28th.  Not that I'm superstitious (I'm really not).  Just didn't want to get overcome with memories while driving with the cats.  I'd done a little travel-training with them in the weeks earlier, but we ended up doing the cross-country in harnesses (and a little bit of leashing, to start) rather than the carriers, because there JUST wasn't room.  The carriers are there, opened up, under the blanket-tent that's draped across the back seat, so they'd have comfy "beds" to lie in when not exploring the upper deck.  Every night, the blanket got re-tented so they could hide.  Overall, we really enjoyed traveling with the cats, and they really didn't seem to mind.  "Oh, now we live in a thing that moves and the scenery changes.  Huh."

Smokey's not too sure about this

The reason this milestone is a Sadiversary is because we'd made the decision to leave our beloved Los Angeles due to Steve, Sr's battle with cancer.  The film industry was in a lull, or so it seemed, so we figured we'd head to North Carolina, start fresh in new industries (or new regions of the same), help Steve recover, maybe learn a little about the Handyman biz, and "get back to our roots", as it were.  Our schools in North Carolina had prompted our reunion in the first place, so there were some things the state had to offer.  But there was a "leaving behind" aspect, lingering in the dark recesses. And that's sad.

That's enough milestone for today.  Two years ago today, we left California. More milestones to come!