Dallas, Texas, U.S.

Well it has been an interesting week getting ready to travel more than a third of the way around the world-the farthest L & I have gone from home so far. It never fails that when getting ready for a trip there are lists of things to get done.

Long ago a child, the list was wake-up and leave. Later that doubled in size to add packing. The older I have become that list adds things like make plans for the dog's care get the yard and house clean (why I do the later is a mystery to me).

For this trip the list grew to include: Scuba Certification, camera purchase (and other related equipment), Passport renewal, and checking into the need for shots (none required).

In an unfortunate turn of circumstances there were several high stress events that happened in my work and home lives including my working late last night turning into working until early this morning (a 20 day!).

So here I sit with less than 70 hours trying to get items crossed off my list while adding some to the bottom. L was wonderful and ran a number of errands Thursday that were slated for today. I would not have survived this week with out her.