A friend of mine once moved apartments in New York City by putting every single thing she owned into two big trash bags and walking with them through the streets of Brooklyn from her old apartment to her new one. She, of course, was a genius. And also possibly a maniac.

But I have held onto that as a glowing vision of the life well-lived ever since.

The key, I feel, to a successful international move, is to have no possessions. Tragically, I seem to have lost my keys.

So I have rented a storage unit near our house. This seems a little on the premature side since we are not planning to actually leave until the end of summer. But my idea is that, rather than throwing up our hands and throwing everything into a shipping container and fleeing helter-skelter (in the way that I have inevitably moved every time I have ever moved in my entire life before), Jonathan and I will sort through our belongings in a calm and orderly fashion, disposing of everything we do not absolutely need for the rest of our lives, selecting very carefully those items that are precious to us (photo albums, etc.) but that are not immediately necessary and putting them into storage, and ending up on the day before we get on the plane with two perfectly packed suitcases and an empty house to rent out. It is a lovely idea.

So I have started by packing only my extremely necessary books into boxes and stacking them in the boys' bedroom to take to the storage unit as soon as this immanently expected snowstorm is over. So far in about three hours of work, I have filled 12 large boxes with absolutely necessary, cannot live without, must be saved for all eternity books. I swear to god that each and every one of them sparks incredible transcendent joy in me. "Statistical Abstract of the Cook Islands 2002" anyone? Impossible to live without.

Minimalism -- so far, so good!