Marching Along

Random thoughts and gratitudes as we enter a new and unexpectedly snowy month ...

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that 48 hours from now I will be sitting at Dulles Airport waiting to board a British Airways jet bound for London on what passes here for a great adventure. I am so lucky to be able to do this, to have a husband whose job makes it possible. I am also so lucky to have two kids whose schedules allow them to come along. This could well be the last real family vacation we take as parents and kids, so I guess I had better enjoy it.

The temperature tonight could set a new low for this date. I will leave on Wednesday wearing a sweater underneath my denim jacket. Once I enter the terminal at Dulles, the next time I step outdoors may be into the tropical temperatures of Ho Chi Minh City. The temperature shock may exceed the culture shock. Five weeks later, we will leave the tropics, re-emerging in Northern Europe. Shopping will be necessary, as I do not plan to take heavier clothes than the jeans, sweater, and denim jacket I will leave here wearing.

I finished up my current project at work just in time to be away for two months. I am so spoiled with the job I have. Part-time with very flexible hours, done mostly from home. A few regular projects that I do each year, and others that I do because they arise and threaten to swamp the full-timers in the office. It's just an added bonus that these extra projects usually come with a "Do you have time for this now?" or an "Are you interested in this?" attached.

In packing for the great adventure, I decided to step outside my usual comfort zone a bit. Those who know me well may be shocked to read that I am taking nothing to do involving fiber with me. No knitting, no needlework, no hand-piecing. I plan to challenge myself creatively with photography, drawing, and writing. Here in my natural habitat, I often find myself thinking that I should try to get back into photography or try to do some drawing or try to work more on my writing beyond the outlet offered by doing National Novel Writing Month every now and again. The trip offers me the chance to do that by removing myself from the temptations of fiber. This is not to say that I will return without having acquired any silk, merely that I won't be working with it while on the trip.

Finally, thanks to Pinky the amazing Acer netbook, I can write as we travel, so perhaps I will land in Ho Chi Minh City with something ready to post to the Hue blog. We shall see. One cannot plan too much on an adventure without risking removing some of what makes it adventurous.