Last May my friends and I attached two slip 'n slides together on the sloping lawn outside Amanda's house. Then we spent the afternoon running across the grass, diving onto the slick, wet plastic, slipping down the hillside, and spinning into the ever growing mud puddle at the end of the wet runway. Even though we would end up covered in mud and scraped up from the sticks and sharper stones that poked through the plastic, we merely laughed, showed off our newest wounds, and ran up the hill to do it again.
As I look at the past month, I see it as my running approach to my slip 'n slide tumble towards Venezuela. In the past 30 days I have literally crossed off three pages of TO DO's on my list. I arranged for changes of address and email alerts for bills; set up turn off dates for utilities; secured a storage unit; closed out a school year; graduated my son from HS; packed and weighed my duffel's; packed most of my house; visited the Dr./dentist/optometrist and said many good byes. In addition, there was the three-day country music festival in a peanut field in Lower Alabama with my friends and a visit from my daughter to celebrate mother's day and her brother's birthday. I even found time to email my 15 new 6th graders for next year in order to start getting to know them-they are a very witty, smart, diverse group! It went by quickly but....as I start my slide, I am thankful for the speed.
The slide has officially begun now-and it is no less unpredictable yet fun than the real slip 'n slide in Amanda's yard. I will move one load of furniture each Friday for three weeks and be out of my house by June 28. In the middle of that I will deliver Clark to Georgia Southern University to start summer school...and thus, his college career. I also have to take one more certification exam and spend three days at the Atlanta zoo to complete my continuing education credits which will keep my teaching certificate valid for another 10 years. Then, beginning June 28th, I will be on the road (or in the air) visiting friends and family in FL, CO, MN, IA, and WI. Finally, I hope to grab a few days with my kids at the beach before I fly out on July 25th.
Like the scrapes from the sticks in Amanda's yard, the little annoyances that inevitably will pop up along my slide through these next 47 days will be nothing compared to the exhilaration I will feel when I land in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela at the end of my slide...smiling, laughing, and ready for the next adventure.
