"Monday."

Today is Monday, that day stereotypically loathed by people and orange cats alike. This Monday happens to mark one week since we moved.

When we first announced we would move to London, we had about 10 weeks before the move. That prompted several pairs of skeptical, raised eyebrows, which admittedly was kind of fun. ("You don't think we can sell all of our things and pack up our lives in 10 weeks? Watch me!")

I noticed another reaction though, once we were under the one-week mark. Once we weren't explaining in numbers of days or weeks, but just answering, "Monday." One word, not several, to describe when our life would change in a big, big way. The physical reaction of the questioner now included the eyes and mouth, sometimes a whole-head movement. Not just the eyebrows anymore!

The same is somewhat true when asked when we had arrived in London. A simple, "Tuesday" (you land a day later traveling from the US to UK) carries a sense of very-recent-ness, versus tomorrow when we can say, "a week ago" or next week when it'll be two weeks. The excitement immediately before and after Aug. 10-11 is something I hope we can recall later. It all did go very quickly, but in hindsight what we accomplished, especially in the week leading up to our departure (with the help of so many people) really was impressive. And unique.

And all of this excitement and amazement around our new digs will eventually dissipate and we'll be left to live typical lives in London. In the coming months we'll slowly realize we've become curmudgeon-y about tube wait times, tired of all the rain and I'm sure some other thing that Londoners complain about.

Until then I'm happy to be amazed and hope to find patience — and to remember that this IS a unique moment in time —while I repeatedly get lost, choose the wrong tube line, and probably get lost a second time.