Who did you tell?

We did not tell anyone at my husband's place of employment until BI/medical were cleared. We told only immediate family and the closest of friends as the BI/medical were in progress. We wanted there to be enough time for it to sink in and to make last visits, answer their questions, allay their concerns, etc., even though we didn't know if the move was a "go" at that point. Fortunately, we'd discussed living abroad for years beforehand, so it didn't come as a complete shock to anyone that we'd be leaving. Still, the destination wasn't what they were expecting or would have hoped for our family. We did a lot of emotional selling of life at Aramco, and the short and long term benefits. Lots of long, complicated calls with grandparents and adult siblings. It would have been worse to do it at the end of the contingency stage.

What was actually the most awkward was telling the children. While they are old enough to understand the basics of why we'd be moving, and that it was "family business, not to be discussed with anyone, even Grandma yet," it put them on edge for weeks and weeks to have this big secret they couldn't talk about openly with anyone outside our family. Obviously, they were aware of the paperwork being filled out and returned somewhere, constant discussions between their parents about the contingency clearing, and all of a sudden, major yard sale and inventorying of everything, getting cars and houses lined up for sale, moving company man walking through the house and their rooms. At the same time, we kept explaining to them about what the contingency clearing aspect meant -- that we weren't technically able to talk about it openly and pack our last bags until just a few weeks before we left, because up until the last minute, nothing's a done deal.

I don't think there's a way we could have handled it differently, but mostly, it was important to us to keep details away from the employer, not to burn any bridges there. But having the kids in on what was going on made us worried they might blab to someone they shouldn't. Fortunately, it worked out.