Are all the boxes marked? The van’s here already.

Feed the baby, and don’t pack the pacifier. Where’s the cat?

Now keep hold of the dog’s leash and stand right by the front door to tell the movers what goes where.

No, you are definitely not getting the biggest bedroom.

Catherine Mathews is a State Department retiree, formerly stationed overseas in Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv, Athens, Frankfurt, and Istanbul. She is now living in Northern Virginia and writing about her life.