The Move (January 26)
After months of talking about it and preparing, we’ve finally set a date for our move to Seattle. We’re relieved but also somewhat anxious about all that needs to be done… and sad at the prospect of saying goodbye to so many good friends in DC, not to mention nurses, doctors, therapists, and others who have supported Lucas during his first years of life.
It all started last week when Burke got the news that the Center for Community Change would hire him onto staff for 6 months starting February 1. Burke has worked for CCC since April of 2010 in various capacities and on various different campaigns but always on contract as a consultant. With the job search in Seattle proving difficult the prospect of him staying on at CCC in a “field” position – meaning he’s able to work from wherever he can connect to a computer – emerged, and we decided to go for it. It’s a great opportunity to continue working on an important organizing campaign related to protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And though he’s still working out the details, we can rest assured that the health care benefits will be even better than we’ve had in recent years, thereby allowing us to move and continue with all the services that Lucas needs.
In the meantime we’ve also signed a lease on a rental house in the Mt. Baker neighborhood of Seattle. It’s a nice place that is very wheelchair accessible and should work well for Lucas’s situation. There are no steps to the front entrance – a rarity in a hilly city like Seattle – and the kitchen, dining room, living room and two bedrooms are all located on the first floor, another key aspect that we had sought. Like the job with CCC it’s just a temporary arrangement – a year lease that could be extended – but it will allow us to get to know the city, start to build community, and then examine our work and living options once we’re well settled in.
There are many loose ends to tie up in Washington DC, from final appointments with Lucas’s many doctors and specialists, to events and projects that we’ve both committed ourselves to through the month of February. And of course, there is much to prepare in Seattle before we arrive, so we won’t actually be hitting the road as a family until close to mid-March. But the preparations have begun in earnest, and we’re excited to let everyone know. Any advice people have about moving – especially with a child, and bonus points for having moved with a special needs child (double bonus for ventilator users) – would be much appreciated.
Comments (6)
Iben
February 14th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Congrats on your new house, Burke’s new job and the decision of moving. It sounds exiting and I’m looking forward to follow your life in Seattle.
We just moved (in December) and what we did to make it as smooth for Nanna as possible was to furnish and decorate her room as the first thing. We moved on a Monday. Nanna was with my mom at my mom’s house from Sunday to Tuesday, so when she came back Tuesday it was to a new home, but all her stuff was there and she was so thrilled to have her own room with all her toys that she literally jumped and danced with excitement.
Another advise is that if you’re cool and looking forward to the new place Lucas will probably be cool about it as well. And I’m confident that you will manage to move cross county without Lucas being confused or anxious about what is going on. You are so good at adjusting to new situations and you get the best out of everything.
Good luck with the move and all the preparations.
Many thoughts from across the Atlantic
Iben
cora
February 8th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
congrats on your job and your decision and good, good luck with your move.
I know that Jim got back to you about the van.
for the next while, I’m easiest to catch on the phone, but quickly, here:
while doctors and medical facilities and schools were paramount, stuff I hadn’t anticipated and that thus almost kicked us in the rear entirely, included
1) stupid stuff like a place to get our haircut
2) therapists–should have lined that up at same level of priority as leo’s doctors
3) i looked for but found it hard to find and link with support groups, wanted to have that set up ahead of time, that took time to mature and ripen–still is happening
4) we found it hard to manage finding a sitter before we arrived, we did list on internet and seek out nursing services, but no one was willing to queue things up so we’d be ready when we landed on the ground, there was at least a two-week lag
5) sending records to the new doctors was incredibly time consuming. best to set it up from where you are now if you might be able to get more friends to help there?
6) opening bank accounts
7) i never had a password notebook before the move, but we came up with one because we suddenly had double the number of passwords with new accounts, etc.
8) should have done the research for a credit union before we left (if we could have, just didn’t think about it, got locked into a local bank, and took a long time to extricate ourselves)
9) have a friend search for special things lucas needs in d.c.–my mom searched the web and called for hippotherapy, aquatherapy, services for kids with CP, so at least all of the local orgs rang a bell once folks started throwing the names at us when we arrived.
10) this is likely repetiive at this point, but organizing all of the paper related to Leo’s life was/still is a big job. I should have asked a friend in Boston to start scanning the records and papers, etc., into a database before we left so we could easily search through boxes when we arrive.d Filing papers and organizing, and making sure that we had papers we needed during the transition was huge. We kept two huge plastic file crates with us and had basic records for Leo in those, along with mortgage info, bank account info, etc.
I found it helpful to have had nothing at all scheduled (well, except for the IEP meeting (HA!) for the first three weeks we arrived at our new destination) so that we could try to get the dust settled and just get a survival routine established in our home. not sure if that will work for you, i primariily mean social obligations, etc., I was super-eager to meet people, but decided it wouldn’t be smart to try to do so duirng that dust-settling phase.
Madeline
January 31st, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Congratulations on the new job Burke! I’m sure your families are so thrilled about this move, and all your east coast compas are sad to see you go.
I don’t have any advice for you even though we just moved with our 3 month old daughter. One thing I tried to do was to set up the places where she spends most of her time (changing table, crib, etc) so that they look as similar as possible to our old place – so there was something familiar about the new place. Oh yeah…and accept ALL offers for help!
Good luck with the transition – this move really sounds like a great thing for Lucas and for you two.
Abrazos,
Madeline
Aunt Kit
January 28th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
We are thrilled for the three of you to finally be moving back to Seattle! Know you have very mixed feelings but the support of your families will surround you. See you, hopefully, when we get back into town at the end of May. Good luck with everything.
Love, Kit
liz
January 27th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
yay! it’s all coming together! i’m sure this is very exciting AND you’re swamped with preparation. i’m extra glad we were able to have breakfast a few weeks ago! love you guys and am really happy for you…another amazing reason to visit seattle! xoxoxo
chad
January 27th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
big news, as you continue on with your big lives. congrats. you invited the unknown in, and the universe is hearing ya. onwards.
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