suzannainthesand

So all I had to do was blog about it and the next thing I knew my visa and itinerary arrived via email.
As I said earlier, I’ve been in procrastination mode. When Group 1 left two weeks ago I was having heart palpitations because I was nowhere near ready to leave my daughters. I couldn’t stop myself from checking email on my phone every three minutes, whether at home, work, or a friend’s house, not to mention in the middle of the night. It was embarrassing since I’m usually annoyed when someone acts so important that they can’t put their phone down for an afternoon or evening. At any rate, for the past few days we’ve been busying ourselves with fun activities, not only to take our minds off my impending departure but also to avoid the sorting and packing that still needs to be done at home. I was proud that I didn’t check my email for four hours yesterday since we were canoeing and I thought it best to leave my phone in the car instead of risking its death in the water. However, today was a different story.
My sister’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their daughters are in town from Atlanta for the weekend so we joined them for a day in the city. One of our stops included a visit to TILT on the 94th floor of the Hancock Building, a new attraction where you stand at the window, hold on to metal bars, and are tilted forward at angles of 15, 30, and 45 degrees. For someone who has gone skydiving this offered no thrill whatsoever, but it’s one of those things I wanted to experience before leaving Chicago. After wandering around the 94th floor for a few minutes, I was compelled to check my email even though the reception was sub-par. And there it was…the elusive email that has caused me sleepless nights for three weeks. My visa is correct, which means I’m as good as gone because it needs no modification. And my itinerary… leaving Wednesday, August 13th. Time stood still for a minute. I wanted to leave after August 20th! I planned to take both girls to college! But it’s not going to happen. Kate (20), aka Waterworks, began to cry. I followed suit. Even Jenna (18) joined the party. Ugh. We knew it was coming and we’ll deal with it now that it’s here. My sister and parents will take Jenna to school on 8/19. Kate’s more mobile because she has a car; she was originally going to Grand Rapids on 8/14 but will now most likely stay to get Jenna off to school before driving herself up to Michigan. I love my family. They’ve stood in for me countless times when I couldn’t be in places I wanted to be and they’ll continue to do so while I’m gone. So for now I just have to focus on the fact that I WANT to go. It may not be the perfect departure date, but there are still many teachers waiting for their tickets, and I’d rather know I’m on my way than find myself sitting at home a month from now wondering when they’ll call me over. Now it’s time to kick it into high gear! Although I’m grateful for the five-day notice, there’s so much to do, and very little time in which to get it done!