WHAT? HOW MANY DAYS?

So I'm a little floored that I only have 36 days left to enjoy the comforts of life "stateside". When did it happen that I ran out of time to get everything done?

I just got back from a lovely time at the good ol' OBX and now I feel like I'm being pulled over the top part of a rollercoaster just before I fly down the drop (I can almost hear that terrible "clink, clink, clink" and feel my stomach flippin' inside out). Yikes!

Okay, staging is a little more than a month away. I haven't studied my French enough, I haven't read all the recommended materials, I haven't figured out if I need adaptors or converters, I haven't put together my address book -- the list goes on. I guess I really just need to focus on what I have done and what I'm about to do in the next few weeks.

In two weeks I'll be finished with work. Then it's off to the family reunion in PA, over to the lovely state of Oregon for a visit with Paul and Katie, back to DC to welcome Carol to my great packing extravaganza, and then just a few short days of goodbyes -- okay, it'll all get done. I guess what I'm really worried about is that all these amazing adventures and moments with family and friends are going to zip by in a flash and I'm not even going to have the wherewithal to enjoy them.

As always there's a little lyric bouncing around in my huge dome, and this time it's John Mayer.

"By the time I recognize this moment
This moment will be gone
But I will bend the light,
Pretend that it somehow lingered on."

36 days and counting. Wow.