Last Days in Town

I think I've been subscribing to the childish idea that the earlier you go to bed, the sooner you'll wake up and find that it's tomorrow!  I was zonked yesterday - I babysat for nine glorious hours, four of which were pool- and sun-filled and very draining - but also I was in a hurry for it to be Monday, and so I went to bed at 8:30pm.  I didn't think my sneaky let-it-be-tomorrow-now plan through, though, and was very surprised to wake up at 6am.  Oops.

Obviously, the reason I wanted it to be Monday is because my visa arrives on Monday!  I've been tracking the UPS package sent by the consulate in New York, and apparently it left Laurel (my local UPS depot, I guess) at 6:26am to be delivered!  I'll definitely have it in my hands today.  Woohoo!

Man, I've got a lot to do to get ready to leave on Wednesday.  I was talking to a new friend recently who is also moving to London, and we were marveling at the fact that we're moving our entire lives across an ocean.  It's quite a feat to accomplish!  There are so many little things that you accumulate over the years, so many bits and bobs - just the ephemera of life - that it's impossible to take with you.  I suppose that I'll begin a new collection of little nothings that mean something once I get to London, but it's hard to leave them behind in DC.  (Another friend is moving to San Francisco today - she's packing her car and driving west!  I so admire her for that.  Especially for the "packing her car" part!)

So today I have to wait at home until the UPS package arrives - it must be signed for, and I don't want to risk not being at home when it shows up at my doorstep.  I've got plenty to do here, though.  I'll be shipping two boxes over to London today filled with photos and cookbooks and things that I won't need right away but that I know I won't be able to live without.  (The boxes are very heavy and will cost a fortune to ship.  Oh, well, it will be worth it to open them on the other side of the ocean!)

Besides these two boxes that I'm shipping I will be bringing over on the plane two big suitcases, the biggest carryon I can get away with, and a huge purse.  (Traditionally, in my overseas moves, the big carryon has held all of my shoes.  It's a good way of packing!  Plus, if the shoes are in my carryon I know they won't get lost, which would be a tragedy.)  I'm not ready to completely pack the two big suitcases - I 'll start today and finish tomorrow- but what I will do today is put aside in neat piles all of my winter clothes.  My mom might be coming to London for business in late September, and if she does she'll bring a suitcase full of cold weather stuff that I won't need now but will then.  I want to make it as easy as possible for her since she's doing me such a huge favor.

Then there're all the things I have to check off my to-do list and all the errands I have to run.  It's going to be a busy two-and-a-half days!

Tonight is family night: we're going to have a nice dinner at home and then see Toy Story 3 (in 3D!).  Tomorrow - my last night in town - I'll have dinner with my babysitting family, which is really my second family, and then will go out with my girlfriends.  It'll be the perfect ending.

Speaking of endings and beginnings, by the way, happy summer!