freakout, phase 2

With the arrival in the mail this morning of the bulk of the presents I will be taking, it hit me that I likely have more stuff than will fit in the suitcase. While not at all a procrastinator by nature, I sitll find myself unwilling to deal with this realistically, to haul out the suitcase and put things in it so I can know with certainty. And then put it on the scale to see if I can even take everything.

And on Thursday, some of the lovely ladies of Amasong took me out for dinner at one of our Indian restaurants (love that buffet!) and it really hit me that I am leaving for quite awhile. I haven't been away from home for this long, whatever my home was at the time of travel, since 1995. I will miss many people very, very much. Suzanne gave me a little photo album for pictures of favorites from home, and it's going to be really hard to prioritize what to put in there, to predict what I'll miss and what I'll want to show people. I do have a picture of Custard Cup already, though, so all systems go.

It's an interesting question: when you live in a place that is wonderful for living in, but not necessariyl for visiting or looking at, what do you take pictures of to capture is greatness? I love sitting at a sidewalk table in downtown Champaign on a breezey summer evening, but the pictures I took of one of those sidewalks don't at all convey the joys of being there, how magical the little lights in the trees are, how freeing it is to sit and let the air blow around you while you laugh away with dear friends.