More Like Home

Our worldly possessions arrived today. They'd been sitting in a container on a Chinese dockside for the best part of three months while I got my visa sorted out this end. 
And then, all of a sudden it was here: a 12,500km Pacific crossing from Tianjin to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, surprisingly quickly through customs and then a 600km road journey to the capital. We've done this often enough now, but each time we're flabbergasted about how much stuff we have. 198 boxes, most of which seem to be records, CDs, books, toys and kitchenware. For some reason, there seem to be hardly any clothes, even with three females in the family. You'd think that records and shoes would be neck & neck. It'll take a fortnight to unpack but by this evening it was already beginning to feel more like home: toys strewn over the floor, fridge magnets in the kitchen, ornaments & nicknacks scattered here, there & everywhere. Frivolous in the grand scheme of things, yet at the same time tremendously important.