Preparations

I am a fundamentally naive person; I admit it, some might even accuse me of relishing it. I imagined that a cross-country trip would be right out of Normal Rockwell. Pack up the car, and whoosh!, off we all go, riding into the glorious western sunset with visions of cowboy boots and Old Faithful glimmering on the edge of sight. A real adventure! New vistas every day: generous helpings of culture, history, and archaeology all at once.

I hope I don't lose that dream; it is energizing and delightful. But let's face up for a moment here: the preparations required are astonishing. The dousing provided by "who mows the lawn, and maybe it should be a professional service for legal & safety reasons" was bad enough, but it was overmatched by the crestfallen feeling of "how does the VISA get paid while we're gone" and "sorry Charlie, you have to pre-pay two months of those painful COBRA fees right now".

And I'm only handling a fraction of the tasks! I have contributed very little, other than opinions (wanted or otherwise) to the day-to-day logistics involved in creating trip itinerary, route planning, accomodations, sights and ~ much, much more to the point ~ ensuring that said itinerary et al is properly booked and reserved in advance, so that it actually comes off in some fashion vaguely resembling the original ideas! That's the Mom's province, and I'm enormously grateful that Marcy has (a) some prior experience at this kind of travel; (b) the mindset to organize and prepare; and (c) that she seems to enjoy it all. If this realm were left to my tender mercies, we'd be grazing from one Golden Arch to the next while Super 8-ing across this tender land of ours. As it is, we have a range of delightful experiences awaiting us: adventures varying from rafting to digging for dinosaur fossils; accomodations from campgrounds under the shadow of Devil's Tower (I hear they show "Close Encounters" every night) to fun cabins and the occasional classy hotel as well.

And I haven't even begun to think about what things are going into the Ravioli, and where they might actually fit. (I did have a good idea about a rooftop storage device; I think one of the kids could probably fit in there.) Thank heavens for the Mom!

Speaking of which, let me offer public congratulations to Marcy for her receiving her Masters in Counseling Psychology, which was officially award last Sunday by her school MSPP (Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology). She did brilliantly, a perfect pointy 4.0, and has a great future rife with exciting promise ahead of her. She means to change the world for the better, and is going to do just that. Well done Marse!