See all that fuss and bother and the GIANT fuel tanks that it take to get the space shuttle to break away from the earth’s gravity??? So it is when a mother leaves home. Even for a couple of days. I’m going on a trip this week. First I’ll be in Utah for two days, then in Arizona for 3 days. For about 56 hours of that time, Eric and I will both be gone. It is the first time we’ve ever left our kids without any family nearby (my folks are going to the same place I will end up). Dear friends are taking the poor orphans in, and I totally trust my pal, and I know in all ways that they will fine, but oh, the arrangements. Not just for them, for myself, for seminary (another heroic pal is taking that on for two days), for the pets (can you say PetHotel???), etc.. I go through this every time I leave and it is making me not want to leave again for a really long time. Once I leave the gravitational pull of my daily life, it will be easy. I’ll float along and enjoy myself thoroughly, but until then, I still have about 40 things to do.
Eric, being the even-keeled guy (emphasis intentional) that he is, will calmly get his suitcase packed at about 9 pm on Monday night and feel bad that I’ve got so much on my mind, but he won’t really understand exactly what it is. I know he has his own arrangements to make and things to take care of, but bless his heart-he must just make it LOOK easy. I always feel like a maniac. Sometimes I wish I could trade in one of my X’s for a Y and not have quite so much on my mind. (That is not a slam, BTW. Eric freely admits that there are long periods of time when he actually has nothing on his mind. What would THAT be like?)
So, here I am looking forward to the moment when I leave for the airport, and there’s nothing else to worry about because there will be nothing I can do about it at that point. I’ll be entering a quiet, low power orbit with lovely views. Bliss is coming…
My Red Door Days 