Twas the Night Before...

Christmas? no.

Christmas doesn't have the same affect on me as it did in the years of my childhood. There is no rushing to sneak a peak at the presents anymore. No more laying awake with Sara and being frustrated with Maggie who could sleep until noon regardless of whether it was Christmas or not.

But.

There is a new thing in my life that causes me the excitement and anxious awaiting the night before it happens.

Traveling.

I love traveling.

I start mentally packing for a trip as soon as I know it is on the calendar.

Physical packing often starts the week before as I pack and repack and add and take away and put back things that I may or may not need.

Yesterday was one of my favorite and least favorite kind of days. Favorite and least favorite because it just doesn't go by quickly enough and at the same time there doesn't seem enough time to finish everything.

The day before a trip.

I used the morning to clean and organize my home so that I can come back to a neat and orderly environment. The afternoon and evening were spent getting last minute items and packing precisely what I think I will most likely need. It was also spent collecting traveling goodies for my trip. A letter of encouragement to open each day from Amanda. An adorable Travel Fun Book from the keiglets and some delicious puppy chow and granola from Lacey.

(It also included a best friend Valentine's date with my dear friend Ashley.)

I finished packing all that I could for the evening. The only thing left to do was sleep until the morning.

But that didn't quite seem to be what my mind wanted to do. So I hopped on my boss's treadmill at 10:30pm to work off some energy. Then came home and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

Then at about midnight, I went to bed.

As usual, a small amount of sleep because I am much too excited to get real sleep.

The morning slowly crept in. At 5:30 I decided that was enough trying to sleep and got up to finish preparing for my trip in the most calculated way possible.

And now here I sit. The hour before the trip. To write and say, I am so very excited to be going on a short adventure out of my every day life!

* I will be out of touch electronically until we return Wednesday.