It felt odd when I realized everything I owned could fit inside a giant moving truck. It felt even more bizarre to see the truck drive away. After months of planning, we loaded the dogs into the car, locked the front door one last time, and set the GPS on our T-Mobile 4G tablet to our new address in Seattle.
Moving to a new state was bittersweet. There is excitement about the new job and our new home. There is also a lot we will miss from our little farming town in Oregon. The job opportunities were limited in Oregon, but it was pretty neat to have farmers as neighbors. We always had fresh produce and Christmas trees were everywhere. As I sit here surrounded by moving boxes at our new place, I realize that moving is just part of the journey. It takes a lot to get settled into a new home.
I was initially worried about how my son would take to the new home. We intentionally moved during the summer so we could get settled before it was time to head back to school. My son is starting first grade this year, which would have meant a change in schools even if we had stayed Oregon. We have his backpack packed and new outfit ready for his first day. But still, I have to wonder how he will like his new class and teacher.
Fortunately, his only complaint about the new place has been the lack of internet service. While we wait for the internet guy to show up in a week, we have been reading books and playing board games (which isn’t too bad of a thing). But we have all become a little more reliant on our smartphones and tablet with mobile internet as a way to discover new places in the area and to stay entertained.
When we moved from California to Oregon about ten years ago, we didn’t even have smartphones to get around. There was a moment when my wife almost had a meltdown after spending an hour circling the neighborhood just to find a place to mail out some packages. Moving is tough, but it is even more difficult when you can’t find what you need. I am still using my GPS to navigate from home to work and back. Hopefully, I will figure out the twists and turns of our neighborhood relatively soon.
Seattle is home to the Seahawks, the Space Needle, and the Pike Place Market. But if you drive along the 405 freeway, it is hard to miss T-Mobile’s headquarters lit up in magenta hues at night. We have been using the T-Mobile Trio AXS 7.85” 4G Tablet, which came with T-Mobile’s Free Data for Life plan.
This isn’t much data, but it is enough to check a few emails or whatever when you are traveling. It is a pretty nice bonus if you buy a tablet to primarily use at home on wifi. Every now and then you will want to take the tablet with you somewhere and that 200 MB of free will be just enough to download whatever you need until you can reach the next wifi connection.
