Ordinary Gente

I’ve never liked math, much less taught math, but the title looks awfully mathematical. It just means we’re a day away from taking off on our trip.

We are both ready to go. Honestly, I got the bulk, no pun intended, of my packing done a week ago before the Joneses and Castros came to visit. Prior to that, all the clothes I was considering taking were scattered on the guest bed. So when they came to stay, I thought, “Wait, I can’t leave this stuff out.” So I packed my clothes and even most of the toiletries into packing cubes and stuffed it all in my carry-on. Feeling smug about having done that so early, all I’ve done is add more than I’ve taken out. Today I do one last pass to extract the extra items.

Meanwhile, Luis has had a different approach. I won’t speak for him. He is an author on this blog, after all. But my observation is that he has studied the options for camera equipment, photography framing possibilities and how to transport camera paraphernalia. Yesterday, nay, last night (!) he pulled out the carry-on and started packing.

To each his own. Or like Mom says, “Cada quién.” The fact is, we both are ready and if we forget or leave behind something, we will buy in Barcelona, Marseilles, Nîmes, Paris or Stuttgart.  The point is to learn about these location, not to transport our daily lives over there.

Today was a quiet day. We spent the afternoon with Lorenzo and Arevik. They even came with us to Mass at St. Joe’s. We went to lunch afterwards, just like in the days long past when the Lorenzo and Miguel were little. I recalled those days with emotion as I realized they are all grown and going to Mass together is mostly a distant memory.  Throughout Mass today, I wondered how the rituals must be perceived from Arevik’s point of view, coming from the Armenia culture. Someday, perhaps we will go to an Armenia church service.

Back to our trip. Preparations to date  include: called mom to say bye; notified neighbors; purchased Euros;  copied and stored travel documents; paid regular bills; notified bank and credit card companies. Still pending: eat any remaining food in the refrigerator; watch the TV program The Americans and sleep well. I think I may need a conk on the head to sleep well as I am so excited.  ~Rosana