Planned moving is a privilege denied to many

Before I start talking about moving from one European country to another, with a passport that opens more doors than most other passports in the world, let me say one thing: I am privileged.

I have a friend who once stepped on a shaky raft in Turkey in the hopes of rescuing herself and her two children from war torn Syria. Her hometown was heavily bombed. She was a wealthy woman once, and now she had to leave her house, belongings and cars behind. The raft that she took, broke, and she found herself in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. To her luck she and her daughters were rescued and in the end they were granted an official status in one European country.

When I was moving to Finland, she asked me if we were taking all of our belongings with us. I felt guilty talking to her about our move, because I knew her story and just a day before I had been complaining about moving stress. I realized I had been the biggest ass, complaining about something that many people don't even get to choose to complain about. It was time for me to concentrate on what I had been taking a bit too given, and really think about the lucky position we indeed had been given.

I received this picture from my parents the day before we flew to Finland. Our belongings took only a few days to travel.

So, I decided to be a little less egocentric about this moving process and acknowledge some facts:
I'm so lucky and so grateful that I get to move with my entire family at once; that we get to take public transportation to the airport and fly to our destination; hire an efficient moving company with lots of experience and expertise to pack and transport; choose what we want to bring with us and what we wanted to donate or sell; have my mom fly to help me in a moment's notice when I felt I was collapsing under the stress; have friends offer unconditional help and pure love at every turn; have friends organize (my first) surprise party ever, spend time with me and shower me in wonderful gifts beyond dreams; have our kids have amazing good-bye parties at school; have my husband have a well-thought and deserved good-bye party at work; spent some extra time with some extraordinary people; have a list of extraordinary people whom I didn't get to say a proper good-bye to, but who are on the top of my list the moment I'm back in town; put the house on the market; have the first offer above asking price; get to have family welcoming us from airport on, bring us to our destination and even decorate the place and be there for us; be welcomed by immigration officers in Finland, who are happy to guide our process; blend in instantly; take our time with house hunting by moving in with my parents until the next move; get to have our belongings already delivered and waiting us the moment we arrive.

We get to be together, safe, literally move on without too much psychological damage and even take everything we wanted with us. The experience to move from one country to another sure is a big one, but it's all happening on our terms and not because we're obligated to flee.

I will now pledge never to complain about self-inflicted moving stress ever again. It is a privilege 65,3 MILLION refugees would have loved to complain about. We're very lucky and I acknowledge it.