There are many count downs that are being closely observed at our house right now. (So sorry Santa, your impending arrival hasn’t made the cut, upstaged by a few other events in our very near future!)  Let’s see, to date there are 2 days until the movers come, 60 days til our stuff arrives in Mexico (yikes!! THAT is fodder for another whole post!), 4 days til Rosie flies to Mexico, 2 days til immigration papers are stamped and Aaron will officially be issued a little wallet card to prove he’s allowed to be there (a long time coming!),  5 days til Daddy comes home :),  4 days til the Christmas dance at school, 6 days til Christmas bash with Styles Sr. and ‘extensions’, 7 days til perogies with Nana and Grampa,  9 days til WE fly to Mexico with kitty-carry-on in tow(!), 18 days til first day at our new school…Understandably, the kids are working very hard to order a universe where they feel so little control right now.  Mansell summed it up very well – after expressing a long list of anxieties over this whole thing, he says, “Mom, there are just so many ‘I don’t knows’.”  He has come a long way in his ability to articulate the inevitable ups and downs he’s feeling as our move looms ever closer –  at one point earlier in the fall I was absently puttering around, when in my periphery I noticed something that gave me pause.  I started to wonder which professional I should consider calling to help us.  There was Mansell, with all the drama a 12 year old can muster (which happens to be LOTS, for all of you with wee ones… stay tuned!:) banging his head against pretty much every hard surface he could find.  At first the ‘little ones’ were watching him wide-eyed, with concerned interest, then they burst into fits of giggles.  I made my way closer and nervously wondered, “Whatcha doin’ Mansell?”  “Well, I’m thinking that this may all be a very bad dream and so I’m trying to wake myself up so it can all be over.”  Well, as one of the parents skippering this family ship to Mexico, I felt at once glad that he was sharing his concerns, albeit in a rather unorthodox way, and horrible for putting him through this.  Something we’ve been really aware of throughout this journey is to allow everyone the feelings they have; to acknowledge those feelings as valid and try to find a spin on the tough stuff that everyone can live with, learn from and move forward through.   And for the record, we are ALL pioneers in this experience, kind of making it up as we go, but more than willing to give it a go!  The kids are adopting this pioneering spirit slowy but surely… Unsolicited, Mansell has also announced, “Well, it doesn’t make sense to me (that we’re doing this) but it’s going to be an adventure!!”    Of course, personality plays a large role in how everyone is handling these many unknowns… we’ve definitely endured our share of anxious, sleepless nights.  One night, Caleigh got really quiet, which is her way when she’s processing the “tough stuff”.  I wonder how she’s doing and if everything is okay and for the longest time she says, “I’m fine”.  I’ve learned to wait her out, and when tucking her in much later, she says, “Mom, I’m not sure I can say this”…I hold my breath and dig further into my store of patience… tears well in her big eyes and I brace myself…”I don’t really want to go” explodes out of her in one goopy sob and then she melts into my arms and cries and cries.  I cry too.  I know in my heart that this is an amazing opportunity… but that’s all I, or any of us, really know.  This is a calculated leap into a new normal, filled with umpteen unknowns,  heaps of hope and inevitably, growth.  We can acknowledge the bittersweet nature of change and we can assure the kids with the only real “known” we know: whatever happens, we have each other and we can work through whatever is thrown in our path, together.   And sometimes we don’t always know for sure that what we’re saying is true, but we say it anyways because someone we love needs to hear it.