Skip to main content

The trip to come

I have a very long bucket list. On said list are a multitude of international locations, some predictably so, some for more personal reasons like 'wanting to visit the homeland of my people' and that sort of thing. Some are on there for no apparent reason but a whim.

Of all the types of locations, for all the reasons they appear upon my list, Abu Dhabi remained absent up until a month ago, when it not only was added, it was placed in the top two spot.

Let me explain.

Son is working over in the land of many sandstorms and camels and plentiful oil reserves and indoor ski slopes and where the bright shiny present crashes into the 5th century. Everywhere you look, I'm told.

He said we should come visit, and that we should do it when the daily temps are somewhere below interior of the sun levels, which means in the winter. It should be around 80 degrees most days.

At first we couldn't fathom a trip of that magnitude right now, but then we realized he was probably not going back for another contract year so our opportunity window began to close and so we came to the only conclusion that made sense, which was to go over there this year, for the holidays.

The holidays abroad.

Our first ever non-traditional approach, we're taking. And I must say we're all starting to gear up.

Daughter is chatting with profs about how soon she can head out after finals.

G.G. is shopping for deals, joining AAA, chatting up anyone he can find with international experience and/or a desire to share. And he's found some really helpful people so far. Which is cool.

I have already purchased those really strange/cool/absolutely comfortable Dansko clogs anticipating the need for comfort on cobblestones.

No, there aren't cobblestones in Abu Dhabi, but there are in Paris, where we're headed first. I just have to share Lemon Gloria's recent post on Paris, because she's great, and I share her views on many topics, and you'll enjoy it: It's called a spork, the opposite of camping, and it also turns out I like creepy little freaks.

Anyway, Paris and Abu Dhabi await.

I've begun my incessant list making, and am currently deciding how careful I want to be with packing given that we're going to visit two different weather zones, one for 3 days, one for 7, one cold and wet, one temperate, etc. Right now I'm thinking layers are the way to go, with lots of black accented by a few nice scarves.

And of course, emerald green snakeskin Danskos. A girl just can't head across the big pond without at least one pair of absolutely ridiculous comfy shoes, right?

Have a great weekend!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It might have been the moon

 The second Super Moon, also a Harvest Moon, just happened. On the same night I had my mini-meltdown. (see prior post). I've talked with several friends who reported intense emotions, mostly around stuff that needs to be released, resolved. When I think about my angst, and how intense it felt, I realize it was all about that kind of stuff. Old stuff, patterns, thinking, habits. So maybe the moon precipitated things. The bubbling up of angst and anger and icky stuff lasted all that night, but had calmed by yesterday morning. Thank gawd, because that was a morass of darkness, the likes of which I haven't experienced in at least a decade. The rest of the weekend has been pleasant. Uneventful. Full of errands, chores, a really nice walk this morning, yummy food, naps, etc. The one thing about energy that feels constant is that no mood lasts forever. Energy continually shifts and morphs, like the Universe knows too much, too long, of any one sentiment just isn't a good idea for ...

The choices we make, make us who we are, don't they?

W. H. Auden once said: Choice of attention—to pay attention to this and ignore that—is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day that we often forget that every single choice that we make, particularly when it comes to how we live, not just the little niggling details, really matters. Every single one. I guess it boils down to limited resources, right? There are a finite number of moments in each day, and most of us are obligated to spend a considerable number of those pursuing our careers, making ends meet, etc., which means that the number available for spiritual and emotional nurturing are limited, indeed. So demonstrating our love for our families, taking good care of ourselves-nutritionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, in the moments we actually have for those pursuits? Makes absolute sense. And growing our hearts and enriching our spirits through whatever means we choose, be it spending more ...

On Mondays. And lots of rules.

Mondays can be a challenge. There's the whole shock to the system of waking up and realizing it's not the weekend anymore, which kind of blows. And then the jolt out of the lazy flow of the weekend into the time-focused 'gotta be at the office by x time, gotta get ready for the company meeting, gotta check emails/deadlines to ensure nothing is on fire' stuff. And then the reality of settling into the week...and knowing that this one will be a full one. They all seem to be. This week for me: Work. Lots of good stuff going on, but 'lots' being the watchword. School. 2nd trimester starts. Tomorrow a.m. So tomorrow for me is school, 9-12; work 1230-430; clinic 5-9. Long day, Tuesday. For this I've washed and pressed my lab coat, cleaned out my tote (it is truly amazing what collects during a trimester in terms of used kleenexes, abandoned index cards, folded notes that were important at some point but now are just extra weight, stale snacks, etc.), and ...