This was my first e-mail about "Moving to America" sent Monday, August 28, 2006. This begins my chronicle.

Hello!

It's with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that Neal, Sophie, Maggie and I will be leaving my beloved Boston for..... get this.... you're never going to believe it.... I'm still not sure I believe it... Omaha, Nebraska. Neal has accepted a job with Oriental Trading Company as Director of Marketing so we will all be relocating at the beginning of October.

Why? you ask.... well, Neal's company is owned by a French conglomerate. His boss is French, his boss's boss is French, and on up the ladder. Neal is from Wisconsin and the only thing that's French about him is his wife's great, great grandfather, and hence his prospects there are very limited. I tried to get Neal to change his last name to Paquelet, but he thought he'd rather move to Omaha. So, here we go.... moving from the bastion of high priced housing, traffic problems, perpetual construction, and my spiritual home since I first visited Red Sox Nation at the ripe old age of 14 for the exact center of the country.... or, as my Zimmerman cousins say, I'm "moving to America". Wish me luck!