Packing...

Today is my last day at home. Its the last day that I will both wake up and go to sleep in my own bed. So, its also my last day for packing...

I don't actually leave until Monday, but since my flight leaves from Atlanta, we're going to spend the weekend with Dad's family before going to the airport Monday.

Packing is a strange activity. Its both exhilarating and frightening. It lets me imagine when I'm going to use certain items, like going to church in Ecuador or what I'm going to wear at school. But at the same time, I worry if I'm packing the right things. Do I take nicer clothes or casual clothes? Do I take practical things or my favorite things? What if I lose my luggage? There's also this cognitive dissonance (grad school phrase!) because its the height of summer here, but I'm packing for a city where 70 degrees is a hot day.

Packing is also stressful for me. Gathering everything together is proving to be difficult, especially for someone whose natural tendency is chaos. As an aside, learning that nature tended away from order was one of my favorite things about chemistry. I felt vindicated in keeping my room in a disorderly state. Anyway, that disorder is frustrating now. I can't find this shoe or that necklace. And its a bigger deal than just packing for vacation. If I don't find x, y, and z today, I'll be without it until at least December. Quite an intimidating thought.

I guess I should stop griping about packing and actually do it. But writing is much more fun...

p.s. The picture is all of my stuff laid out on the guest room bed...