Sitting here thinking about moves, my mind turns to the craziest move my family ever had. It was when we moved to Tokyo, Japan, in September 1988. We moved there for my dad’s job. I was 14 years old, and my brother was 10.

We moved from our suburban American house into a big Tokyo apartment, and our belongings came over in three stages. First, each of us packed two or three suitcases to go on the airplane with us, filled with all the clothes, valuables, etc. that we would want or need immediately. (I wonder how much the airlines would charge us for that today.) Second, we sent a separate air shipment, which took a week or two — I think this included our dishes, more clothes, other stuff. Finally, there was the rest of our belongings — all of our furniture, everything else — which was shipped by sea.

Oh, and there was also our dog, Blondie, our 2 ½-year-old collie/retriever mix. She got sedated and put into a dog carrier, and she flew in the cargo bay of our airplane along with the luggage. After our 14-hour flight to Narita Airport, her crate came down the conveyor belt along with the rest of our luggage. She barked like crazy when she saw us — she must have been totally confused and scared. But our reunion was brief, because she had to be quarantined at the airport for two weeks, like all imported pets. I’ll never forget her loud, frantic barking as we left her in the quarantine area — almost as if she were saying, “Come back! Please! Don’t leave me here!” We felt so guilty and sad about it.

From the airport we went to our hotel. On our first night in Japan, my dad and my brother and I had dinner at マクドナルド (pronounced ma-ku-do-na-ru-do — McDonald’s). We ordered our food and carried our trays up to the second floor of the restaurant. As we were walking, my dad lost his footing and knocked over his Coke, which spilled everywhere. Isn’t it weird what you can remember sometimes?

The next day, our first full day in Japan, still feeling disoriented and jet lagged, we went to a big furniture rental warehouse where we picked out temporary furniture for all the rooms in our apartment, an apartment that my parents had picked out a few weeks earlier on their own separate trip to Tokyo. We chose kitchen furniture, bedroom furniture, living room furniture. I was in no mood to pick out furniture for my bedroom.

School started two or three days after we arrived. The American School in Japan is on the outskirts of suburban Tokyo, and my brother and I traveled there from the hotel for two or three days. We were late to school almost every day. Then the temporary furniture arrived at our apartment and we moved there and settled in.

Two weeks later, we drove back out to the airport to get our dog. We were so excited to see her, and vice versa. On the way back to the apartment, we let her have a few licks of ice cream. Having our dog in our apartment made the place begin to feel like home.

For the next two months we got acclimated to life in Japan. My brother and I figured out how to get to school by train. I tried out for the Fall Play (M*A*S*H — I got the part of Radar) and made friends. Emperor Hirohito was dying of cancer, and it rained almost every day.

In early November we performed M*A*S*H. The following weekend, we had the cast party at a friend’s house. And when I got home that evening… there in our apartment was our furniture. Our real furniture. It had finally arrived from across the ocean.

I had gotten so used to our rental furniture, and those two months had passed so slowly — as time does when you’re experiencing brand-new things every day — that I had almost forgotten it was coming. I don’t know if I can convey how wonderful it is to be living overseas and to suddenly have your own bed, your own desk, your family’s own comfy couch and living room furniture show up from seemingly out of nowhere.

Anyway… tomorrow we’re just moving nine blocks, not half a world away. But it’s neat to reminisce.