Third Year, Week 12 - Packing for Paris...

I just realized that I started this blog two years ago this week.  We've come quite a long way!  Babygirl picked her Make-A-Wish trip the week before she received her kidney transplant.  And now we are packing.

Babygirl has loaded up her suitcases, thankfully AFTER asking for some guidance.  I suggested that she put her clothes together by day, undies/bra/shirt/pants (or whatever).  Pack an empty pillowcase to use for dirty clothes. Use double layers of ziplock bags for anything that could leak.  An hour later she came downstairs and said, "I need bras."

I can see why she wouldn't really know this until she tried to pack 8 days worth of outfits.  She's been sick a long time, attending school a maximum of 3 days a week for months.  Her medication has caused some size adjustments.  And I am the Queen of keeping up with the laundry.  I also understand that you can run to the grocery store in something that doesn't look as nice as what you'd want to wear to a lovely bistro in another country.  In fact, I know all this so well that I went shopping for the same item for myself Sunday afternoon.  Babygirl was with me on that shopping trip.  And I specifically asked her then if she needed anything.

It is a testament to how much I love her that I didn't simply kill her, pack her in her suitcase for the trip  and hope for lost luggage.

I've mentioned more than once how little I like shopping.  But some shopping is worse than others:  Shopping for bras and bathing suits is nearly guaranteed to make any woman, however lovely, unhappy with herself.  And add 'teen-aged' to the above sentence?  OhDearLord.  Just ask Citygirl how much fun THAT is.

Sometimes you have to turn your irritation inside out and just laugh.

 All three of us went off to Walmart and picked up last-minute stuff for the trip.  Umbrella.  Smaller wallet.  Shampoo and conditioner.  Sneakers for Hubby.  Dog food for our dogsitter to give Simon (he's usually a table-scrap kind of guy).  And (sigh) new undergarments for Babygirl, which required, not unexpectedly, more than an hour in a fitting room.

I will not be the least bit surprised if it turns out NOT to be our last trip there.  I've already made one trip to the pharmacy, and discovered that I need to make another.  We haven't taken a vacation since the transplant, so some of the packing issues are different.  And going out of the country means we can't pre-sort any of our pills!  We can take the sorters, but the pills all have to be in their original labeled containers, so we'll have to sort them once we get there so we can take a days' worth here and there.  Oh - that reminds me!  I need pill bags!  (Those are 2x2" zipper bags for individual doses of medications - seriously one of the best ideas ever).

I am looking forward to that moment on the plane where I smack my head and say, "I completely forgot......!"  Because once you've discovered that one thing, you can finally just relax.

DeeDee