Week 49 - Preparing to Go

With it being the last six days at home before being gone for a LONG time, my week was jam packed. Of course. I wasn’t stressing about work stuff because I’d been chipping away at my to do list for some time but I still had plenty to do at home. The plan had been to wrap stocking in the evenings after work with the intention of shipping them on Saturday, so I was thrilled to hear on Monday that we would be getting Wednesday off for Bush 41’s funeral. While that may not have been very convenient for students, it worked great for me.

I happily wrapped away on Wednesday while streaming It’s a Wonderful Life and ended the day with both boxes packaged and ready for the post office. I loaded them into the car and mailed them first thing Thursday, checking off the last major pre-trip item. The next two work days went quickly with just enough to keep me busy but not a stressful amount to do. I left the office on Friday to hit the pool one last time before I left, confident that I’d left work in good shape. It felt good to be in the pool and I took the opportunity to clear out my locker so I could restock my toiletries and wash my suits and towel over break. Unfortunately when I picked up my stack of towels and such, I also picked up the instructor’s swim suit. When I discovered it at home, I had a flurry of activity trying to get in touch with the instructor. I finally heard back from her that I could just throw it away, which meant I didn’t have to drive to Lincoln on Saturday. That was a big relief because I didn’t want to add anything else to the list for my last day.

So all that was left on Saturday was stopping at the library to drop off the Friends’ checkbook and prep a bank deposit, get the cats set up (many, many litter boxes and puppy pads all over the house) and pack. I had started a pile of non-clothing earlier in the week and had a mental list of what clothes I’d be packing so it wasn’t bad at all. I was more worried about getting Pie inside than what I’d be taking to Norway but she came inside without incident on Saturday night so I set the stove timer for o’ dark thirty and went to bed early. Anne was picking me up at 6:30 so I needed a good night’s sleep and managed to get one. Yay!

I had told Anne under no circumstances could she open the door when she arrived and I’d snuck my big suitcase out the door first thing so that only left my carry ons. This may sound nuts but I was so worried about Pie sneaking out that I actually put everything outside via the kitchen window so I’d only open the door super quickly to leave. I got out the door in a flash and Anne and I were on our way! The day was completely uneventful with a flight to Chicago on United then picking up our bags and heading to the international terminal, where we had to wait to check in for our Norwegian Air flight. This involved sitting and knitting on a bench by the check in counters so nothing wrong with that. When the counter opened, we checked in, went to the gate and knitted until we boarded. The flight was nearly empty so after a nice dinner, there were plenty of seats empty so we went to an empty row and stretched out to try and get some sleep. Even with 3 seats, it wasn’t easy to sleep but we gave it a go, happy to know we’d be waking up in London. If that doesn’t make for sweet dreams, what does?