Saying goodbye

Little by little, our apartment is becoming empty. We've sent our 5 balikbayan boxes worth of stuff off for shipping and our cabinets are almost bare. This past weekend, we posted our "For Sale" signs and today, someone took our shoe rack away. Leaving our home for the past 6 years is proving to be heart-wrenching and very difficult. I find myself crying once in a while. A big part of me really doesn't want to leave. We've made a lot of good friends here over the years and this has really become Neil's and my home together. Last Wednesday, Frank gave Neil his tsuba (sword guard) as a goodbye gift and I started bawling like a little kid. Tomorrow, I'll have to say goodbye to my pottery class and I don't know if I'll be able to keep it together. I often wish that someone would just invent the transporter thingy from Star Trek already so that we could live in New Orleans and in Manila simultaneously. Until then, I'll just have to say goodbye...