The day before a long trip (I will be out of town for six weeks) brings a special sort of anxiety. Not that I have anything to complain about. The next month and a half will bring me to Berlin and Paris, among other wonderful places.
But there is always the nagging feeling that something has been forgotten, an essential detail missed. It is a larger, more amorphous version of the classic panicked question “Did I leave the stove turned on?”
So I have one more day of worry, of neurotically checking todo lists, cleaning out the fridge, suspending the newspaper, paying a pesky bill or two, and making sure I have all my ducks in a row (whatever that actually means).
The payoff will come at liftoff, when I can at last sit back in my airplane seat and relax, secure in the knowledge that whatever I have forgotten, there is no longer a damned thing I can do about it. 🙂
So please have a safe trip!