The Transition

Today saw the beginning of our little experiment. It was a dreary day in northern Indiana and Chicago. The rain varied from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour, but it was constant throughout. We packed up (me for my trip, the wife and kids for their day at the Aquarium), and headed out for the airport.

The drive was tense, in that Max and Hannah were at each other's throats for much of the drive. Traffic was bad as well, and the end result was that we were forced to drop me off at the door without much of what one might call a proper good-bye. However, I think that was ultimately a blessing- it was a quick break, that didn't give the kids time to get upset.

The flight out was pretty craptacular. The flight spent most of its time going through storms, and so the turbulence was not good for most of the flight. The aside is a picture from my window seat. I have more pictures for Hannah to see when I can get them uploaded. On the plus side, the in-flight show was amusing. It was an episode of 30Rock, followed by an episode of Chuck. The NBC tie-in amused me greatly.

I was joined on the flight by two colleagues who will be joining me in Morocco. I wound up spending most of the day with them. They seem like good people. We got in 5 minutes early, and shared a cab to the hotel the State Dept. set up for us. After settling in, we met up with another fellow from our program, and decided to do a little sight-seeing before we had to meet up and check in. We visited the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial before heading back. After checking in, having a pre-orientation orientation, and a bit of dinner. Met, at least briefly, with the other members of the Morocco group, and then went off to work on the trifecta. It was late by the time we reached the Supreme Court building, but by the end of the evening we finished seeing all three branches of government and giving them my personal stamp of approval.

The day was, over all, a fairly good start. Let's hope the next few days stay as easy.

The Final Countdown

You know those magical days where everything goes as planned, and the day seems almost dream-like in it's perfect execution? Today wasn't one of those days. Nerves were frayed, everyone was short-tempered, we were constantly scrambling to get things done, Hannah's door fell off it's hinge, and everyone was pretty open about their anxiety about the imminent separation.

It ended nicely, though. Stuffed shells and cheesecake, the packing finished up nicely, kids finally calmed down and played nicely, and Katrina and I got a chance to chat and snuggle a bit before we go our separate ways for the summer.

I'm up waaaaay to late, but I can't sleep. I'm sure this will sort itself out soon enough, but I'm not surprised by it. I'm not much of a sleeper anyways. Anywho, nothing for it but to jump. See you on the other side.

T-2

People were in pretty good spirits today. We got the silver car back from the shop, where it was being fixed after some teenager decided to text while driving and ended up with her bumper in Katrina's trunk. (Not as interesting as it sounds, I promise.) I had a ton of work I had to get done, and I still have several loose ends that need tying up before I take off. I did successfully manage to avoid packing, though. so score one for the good guys, I guess.

Really, though, it sort of interesting how we're walking about trying to keep our day as normal as possible, while the imminent separation hangs over our head. Katrina wanted me to wake her up after the kids fell asleep so that we could watch Gran Turino together (no dice), so I'm just trying to get a bit of work done for the Prof. while listening to the Red Wings game. I was peeking on on the Cubs game for a while, too, but I'm comfortable enough with a 7-run lead to just let that one go.

Le sigh. Suppose I should go back to Alvarez and find some quotable quotes before I return that book to the library tomorrow...

T-3

We only have today and tomorrow left, before we begin this little experiment of ours. The tension is, I think, getting palpable. Little Max, in particular, is taking turns being either extra-clingy or especially wild. We're all a bit nervous about how this is going to work out, but I think we'll wind up surprising ourselves at how well we respond. Of course, I could just be saying that to make myself feel better about heading off to Morocco.

One plus, though, is that Hannah has mastered the Skype. We've decided that Skype provided the optimal way for us to stay in touch. Hannah loves it so much that, any time the laptop is on in the kitchen, she runs into the office to call you from the desktop. She's cute like that.