Reality of Change and Pressing Pause on the Fantasy.

Now the initial excitement over Michael getting a job and our upcoming move has started to wear off a bit, and the Reality of the MOVE is setting in. I'm still thrilled to be relocating to the DC area, but moving is always challenging.
Challenges to face:
1) Find a home (preferably one that has a yard so that I can have a garden...and maybe 3 chickens...and a beehive). We are probably going to be renting for the first year...possibly a yardless apartment...but we are hopeful that we can rent a house.
We want to live super close to Montgomery College, where Michael will be teaching. We fantasize about Michael being able to walk or bike to class. Seriously, Michael on a bike, head in the wind, not driving (saving $ on gas, no car insurance, no polluting), getting a workout in the process, is hot stuff. Hubba hubba.
Since we have that particular fantasy, we are limited to a small geographic area surrounding the college...so our home/apartment options are indeed limited.
I would really love to have eggs laying around in the backyard, hiding under leaves of spinach and cabbage like sweet yolky Easter presents. And I'd love to harvest my own honey, hear the hum of industrious bees as they pollinate my hollyhocks and phlox. But alas, my beehive and chicken fantasies may have to be compromised for some time.   
2) Find another Co-op for Noah. This is a ginormous challenge! I've been so fortunate here in Syracuse to find an awesome co-op...not so sure it can be replaced. Noah and I are both going to miss the friendships we've luckily stumbled upon through co-op. Plus, even though co-op is not a 'preschool', Noah has been learning so much from the good Miss Lewis, and the good Miss Sarah. And he learns so much from the other kids too- like sword-fighting and new and interesting fart noises. And how to share. And how to accept differences. And how to listen. And how to put on and zip up his own coat. In Syracuse, this is a huge milestone that kids must meet before they are admitted to Kindergarten...otherwise those poor teachers would spend all day just getting kids bundled and unbundled.
3) Tying up all the loose ends around here. Can't leave my mother-in-law swinging in the wind. We have to make sure that we leave our current home in such fantastic condition that people will be lining up to purchase it! Packing. Cleaning. Repairing.
And I have to go through all of the STUFF we've accumulated over the past couple of years...the stuff piling up in the basement...laying around in the attic...bulging out of the shed....littering the yard. What to keep, what to yard-sell, what to freecycle?

Where to begin?  
 
So, while I am delighted for a new beginning in a place which promises opportunity, I am slightly overwhelmed (or maybe just over-caffeinated) by all the details to attend to...and the sacrifices that must be made.