The Plane'll Take Off...Tomorrow!

Bet your bottom Australian Dollar!

Yesterday's presentation went really well, considering we all looked deer in the headlights. I think the terror level of the cast was beyond red. I managed to make it through Rocket Man unscathed, but then Another Cha Cha came along and totally did me in. I started out okay, but my heel caught Lee Anne's foot, and got me thrown a bit. I made up the words to the song, and somehow managed to make them rhyme and fit in the right amounts of beats. I think what I sang even made sense.

Ugh. Now the chore of packing and repacking. Thanks to my folks and friends for coming up and over and down to see me. The gifts are amazing, if only just the gift of having company to keep me sane for a few days.

Lots of laughter. I learned in the few short days that they were here that laughter heals most wounds and definitely helps relieve the stress of everyday panic when it comes to learning shows and literally thousands of words of text.

We still don't know who our line captain will be, but hopefully we will know before we actually embark on the ship. Final payday today, as well as a bank run and last minute wal-mart run. I don't think I need anything, and Ben asked me to go to the mall with him. I probably will, if only just to get a sense of that Americana before I am without the luxury of "malling it" for six months. Maybe a hot pretzel will help calm some of the nerves.

The task of cleaning up the apartment, cleaning out the refrigerator, doing dishes, cooking the last supper. Chicken. Ramen noodles or rice. Mango slices. Tilapia. Who knows. Probably chicken will win out in the end. Maybe I will make it all and see what everyone wants to eat. I will suggest a pot luck dinner of everyone's leftovers. That'll learn 'em.

Kind of a sad day today as well. Leaving behind loved ones. Trying to wind up the loose ends of conversations that have not been resolved, finding out what time will do to relationships is an unanswered question that will remain unanswered.

I'm sitting in the kitchen drinking my last Dr. Pepper for a while, hopefully forever, as soda will not fit into my new life equation. It is delicious. In a yucky kind of way. Sci-fi channel is on... first wave, I think the program is called. I am making list after list of people to call, emails to send, things that I still have to do before I get on that plane tomorrow.

I have no idea what time the flight is, where I am flying through. I hope I get a stop in LA so I can see my brothers and families. It would be nice to know ahead of time, no? But, as thins have gone down up to now, this, too, is to be expected. It has been a challenge knowing that I have no control over pretty much anything in my life right now. That will change in 24 hours, thankfully. It will be so nice to get onto the ship, into my own room, with my things where I want to be able to put them. Sigh.

Anxiety creeps up on me.

More later.