I, KD Sarge, seriously lucky duck, am going to Australia at the end of the week. Australia, then New Zealand. I’ll be gone for a whole month.
Did I mention I am soooooo lucky?
For reals. The plan was to go last October, but it wasn’t deemed safe enough yet by my traveling companions (those doing the planning!) I was afraid it might be that way, so I didn’t think about it. And then this year it was on, but another COVID wave could still cancel everything. Stuff could go wrong. I wasn’t the one planning, so I didn’t think about it. If it happened YAY!! If it didn’t–well, if I didn’t think about it, I would be a lot less disappointed if it didn’t happen, right?
So here we are. I barely got my passport in time because I was working very hard at Not Thinking About It, but I did. I have it. I have all the other paperwork required. I’ve made my packing list, and done a practice pack to make sure I can take what I need within the weight and space limits. I have people set up to drop in on my kid. I have to-do lists written up, and rewards for doing the to-dos, and I am as sanguine as I can be about leaving her alone here for a month.
Zoe: You sanguine about the kind of reception we’re apt to receive on an Alliance ship, Cap’n?
Mal: Absolutely. [pauses] What’s “sanguine” mean?
Zoe: “Sanguine”. Hopeful. Plus, point of interest: it also means “bloody”.
Mal: Well, that pretty much covers all the options, don’t it?
-Firefly, S1E5 “Safe”
…yeah. Sanguine.
See, I’m the person in my house who makes everything work. I make sure the trash gets taken out, that the groceries get ordered, that we get what we ordered. I change the AC filter and clean the dishwasher filter and water the trees and find the kid’s jelly where it got shoved to the back of the fridge out of disrespect for her person or something. And I’m the person at work who makes everything work. I know why my principal got that invoice and who it needs to go to, and I know where the toner is for that printer most people forget we have, and yes, we have clear packing tape and laminating sheets and glue sticks and this is how you turn that alarm off, and here’s why it was beeping.
I cannot tell you how much I don’t want to be on the phone, distracted from kangaroos and Hobbiton and the Great Barrier Reef by “how do I deal with this thing you didn’t realize might come up?” In either place. Not to mention I’ll be some seventeen or so hours ahead, so the odds of anyone who needs me at home reaching me during waking hours in Australia…
Ommm. Ommm…
It’s gonna be okay. People go on vacation all the time! I should know, I’m generally the one holding down the fort while they do it. It’s going to be fine. No one is going to burn down my school! My child is not actually going to full Animal House, or Lord of the Flies. (or Hannibal.) It’ll be fine. I made two weeks of food for the child, and arranged multiple people to check on her. I wrote out all of my procedures that I could at work, and stocked up with six boxes of fruit snacks (student encouragement) and chocolate (staff revival.)
Y’all. I’m going to Australia. And New Zealand. And Middle Earth.
Everyone is just going to have to live without me for a bit. I deserve this.