Barbara J. Hamby

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Countdown to Blastoff

We are in the final countdown to departure Friday evening. My list of “must-do’s” is getting shorter. I have all my toiletries, makeup, etc. packed in a transparent case and in small containers. The final packing will be tomorrow afternoon. I have the clothes I plan to take hanging together in one end of the closet, so it shouldn’t take long. I do need to remember to have a warm outfit in case it’s snowing here when we get back. Probably I’ll wear layers when we leave and hope not to have to wear them on the cruise.

The first part of the trip will be the worst part--flying at night, changing planes at dawn in Houston, then boarding the ship in Fort Lauderdale around Noon. I hope we can get some sleep in there somewhere.

I ran all my last-minute errands today so I can slow down tomorrow. I?m grateful we have a house cleaner who’ll come in Monday to do the heavy cleaning, dusting, etc. so we can collapse when we get back.

I’m back into the swing of writing a verse now and then. I wrote a short one last week. Those can be harder than long ones, because each word has to be carefully chosen. Long poems aren’t really my forte’ anyway. I don’t even like to read them.

The pain clinic group my medical provider sponsors has offered a variety of possible distractions and other ways of adjusting to and alleviating chronic pain. I’ll miss a couple of sessions while we’re gone, but can make them up later. So far, the tips the patients give each other are very helpful, also. I’d like to learn to rely more on bio-feedback and self-hypnosis, etc. than on medication. We’ll see how that works out.

Anyway, if I don’t get back to the blog before we leave, I’ll be back in mid-February