Counting Down

72-hours from now I will be on a plane to Tucson, Arizona (Thursday morning flight; guess it would help to know that I am writing this at 6:56 am on Monday). With good planning, this could be enough time to get myself ready, but more than likely I will leave the bulk of packing and prep to Wednesday night. I am traveling alone to Parent's weekend at University of Arizona (Jeffrey is too busy at work and Andrew can’t miss school) so in theory, readiness for one should be vastly easier, but that is not always the case. Packing for one means leaving the ones at home equipped for 4 days without me and that requires a different kind of preparedness.

Solo travel is a fairly new experience for me. Other than the occasional night away and a once-a-year trip to Boca for a weekend with mom, I rarely venture out into the world on my own. Pretty sure I already explained that I have only stayed in a hotel room by myself on a handful of occasions and rented a car only twice. I have never done the “girls only” travel thing, a combination of limited opportunity and limited interest. Jeffrey is not a frequent business traveler either, just a few times a year; thus single travel is not a regular thing in our marriage. I am learning to enjoy or at least appreciate the time alone, both when I am away and when he is, so I am excited, not anxious, about this trip. Certainly the fact that I am headed to a beautiful resort with a spectacular pool, lazy river, multiple hot tubs and 90 degree dry heat doesn't hurt. I will also be spending the time with David, his friends and their parents, who all know how to have a good time. This adventure has all the makings of a real vacation and if I am adequately prepared, I could actually relax. I will still be lonely at the end of the day in my king size bed, but after hours of sunning at the pool and David's social calendar, I should be tired enough to sleep well. If not, I'll have to keep busy blogging because if I pick up the phone to chat when I can't sleep at midnight it will be 3 a.m. back home, and even Jeffrey wouldn't be happy to hear my voice. On the other hand, if I hang with the Frat boys and party till 3 a.m. then most of you will just be getting up for work when I get under the covers; but I'm guessing David will send me back to the hotel long before that.

Between now and then there is much work to be done. Luckily, I thought ahead and took care of hair color, nails and hands already, so I can cross those things off the list. I do have to clean my closet enough to dig the summer clothes out of the piles (I have not spoken about my closet in this blog, you don't know me well enough to hear about that yet), and that may take some time. Packing will start with much more clothing than is necessary for even a month away, so I will “edit, edit, edit and make it work” (nod to Tim Gunn, Project Runway) until I get to a few choices for each day. I will still zip the suitcase with vastly more than what I need, but the one thing I leave home will be the exact thing I want to wear. In my opinion, if you are checking a bag, you may as well make complete use of the 50lb. Maximum. I will check the Tucson forecast no less than 10 times a day between now and takeoff; for some reason the few annual days of rain that Tucson gets usually coincides with my visit to the arid state. If I leave the raincoat home, it will pour, I'm hoping if I include it, it will go unused. As of this minute Accuweather shows steady mid 90's temps with partly sunny skies (of course last week it was predicting 102 and clear skies, obviously the rain gods are sensing my arrival). If my bathing suit stays in the suitcase you will be the recipient of some cranky posting. If I can't lie by the pool then I will be doing much more shopping, and that can't be good (when Jeffrey reads this he will say his own prayer for blue skies; he doesn't want me spending any time indoors at the mall either).

Beyond my own wardrobe choices, I will have to make sure that everyone left at home has their laundry done and put away before I depart. Back when they were younger, I would actually have to leave daily outfits for the boys; can't leave anything to chance when Jeffrey was dressing them. Nowadays, I am confident that with clean clothes they can assemble something that matches on their own. Believe me, I consider this a great accomplishment, this was not a skill they were born with (nor their father, but he's learned enough to handle his day to day wardrobe). I take great pride in the fact that all 3 have developed a sense of style and can assemble an outfit I’d be proud of. Jeffrey can handle feeding them without any problem; I am sure all meals will be Asian inspired and wok based, with maybe one night out for sushi or Thai. He will also be responsible for school pick up and after school activities, they are in his calendar and Scott is available for back up.

My to-do list seems fairly manageable at the moment. A few work things to wrap up before I go and I will happily turn on the "out of office" message on Wednesday night. I have reading materials on hand (saving each magazine as they arrive in the mail, waiting for airplane and pool time), and will make sure the ifamily is fully prepared with music, books and chargers. I will remember to bring all the items that David left at home, an entire second suitcase. I will include possible wet weather and cold evening clothing, which I will keep my fingers crossed, stay in the suitcase.

This will be my last parent’s weekend for a while; David is graduating in May and I have 2 more years before Andrew gets to invite us. We haven’t actually been to one in quite some time. The last Arizona weekend we attended (freshman year) was spent almost entirely in the health center and the hotel room (David was sick and soon all of us were sharing his germs). We have visited many times since, but mostly for fraternity weekends and move-in time. The other parent’s weekend events we made sure that David was “adopted” by another family and that he got the requisite nights out for a good meal. So wish me luck in getting myself organized and on the plane Thursday morning with as little tension as possible. I have big plans for some interesting posting ahead; let’s all hope that it does not include rainfall, trips to the health center or lost luggage. This does not mean that I am signing out until then, I’m sure other topics will pop into my head for the next two days, and that will give me another reason to put off the packing until Wednesday night. We can revisit my suitcase and my trip on Thursday when I buckle my seatbelt and hope for a seat mate that does not want to talk or share my arm rest, unless they are interesting enough to be blog-worthy … let's hope for the best.