The Final Countdown

First, click on this link so it can play while you read the rest of the post. If it ends before you get to the end, take a shot.

The final countdown
As I typed in the title to this blog, the outer waves of this realisation began to hit me: In three weeks, every single aspect of my life will look different.
The wonderful reality of moving hit me when I booked my plane ticket. I'm flying a DC 3 into Port Au Prince on the 25th of July.  That’ll be a new experience. I’ve a vague memory of flying in a Cesna over Ecuador, but that’s pretty much it.
I’m going to spend the last three weeks doing the following.

1)    Pack: I am trying to compromise between moving intact, memories and all, and moving quick and easy. Dilemnas that I have been facing are seemingly trite, such as “do I take the teacups or more spices?”, “take a pair of fancy heals or hiking boots?”  and then of course, what books do I take or leave? That once is easy because I’m always paring down my library and hard, because, well, I’m always paring down my library. I thought I had no despensible books left. At this point, I’m not just trimming the fat, but cutting into muscle.

2)    Watch ‘the Lone Ranger’. No spoilers please.

3)    Work on curriculum. I’m trying to have a decent map set out so I can begin planning classes. 

4)    Maybe,  just maybe, work on my thesis. Like that’s going to happen.

5)    Enjoy my family.  Happy 4^th, by the way.  It’s kind of a side note to getting to spend almost a week with my ENTIRE family. This won’t happen again for a while.  I wonder at how different life turns out than what you expect. Our family of four kids, one brother-in-law, two nephews and a friend, total: 10.  My best friend from back home is having a similar reunion with her family. Six kids, all married, most of them with multiple kids.  I’ve lost count of how many people comprise that little tribe. 

6)    Face some fears. Like, I’m still single. Huge fear. Logicaly, that should be more of a want unmet or something, but for me it’s fear. Being single means I don’t have someone watching out for me in a foreign country, no family surrounding me. Like I said Fear-definitly irrational, therefore, harder to erradicate. But all our fears are deeply irrational, because they are in some sense always coming true. Everyone’s alone, in some way. Another fear: working a full week.  I am sure I can be capable of it but I havn’t done it in while. What if I can’t?

There are more items to the list, but Matt’s got the barbeque started and I have three books on Chaucer staring me in the face. If I get through one book today, I will crown myself emperor of efficiency. Oh, and two devilishly handsome boys grinning up at me from under the table.