... you don't know how lucky you are, boy --
Back in the State of Qatar!
(mental note: finish rewriting those lyrics for next talent show - it's gonna be HUGE!)
Yes, we're back in Doha after a long and exhausting summer. I'm not even going to go into how hard it was to leave Pittsburgh, both emotionally and physically. In short, you know the saying "you don't know what you got till it's gone"? Not always true. I said so many goodbyes, by the end I just shut down and only dealt with the folks who side-tackled me on the street. But my parents' neighbor told me a story about how her family moved to England (I think it was) for a few years when the kids were small, and when they returned everything was right where they left it. So I have hope. Just in case there's anyone left in Pittsburgh who doesn't resent us.
In the meantime, I'm unpacking. I've got almost all of the suitcases empty and put away which is good because any day now the container will arrive at the house (it's sitting in Customs now only a few miles away) and we'll have a big job reacquainting ourselves with our worldly possessions.
For those who've asked, the flight and navigating airports alone with three kids worked out fine, but we had a lot of help. This would have been much harder without business class seats, red-carpet lounges, and the Al Maha welcome wagon / visa and baggage expediting service at the Doha airport. The hardest part came the day after we arrived, when I had spent two nights with a total of four hours' sleep (A's schedule was as upside down as her stomach). Survive and advance. It's been much better since then, and we're all sleeping at night for at least 6 hours at a pop.
Next posts: what's different here, what's the same, and what's just plain screwy.
