Well, I certainly didn’t imagine I’d go this long without blogging but … things have been insane.

And now we leave tomorrow. And tomorrow starts in an hour and a half at the time of me writing this. We’re at Grandma’s, and I’m finally feeling like everything that I can get done before tomorrow has been done. Our clothes are packed. Devices are charging. I picked up random odds and ends we still needed this afternoon. The kids each have a backpack stuffed with toys, activities and snacks that I’m desperately hoping will keep them more or less chill during the 18 hours or so we’ll be traveling starting tomorrow.

I meant to go into why it has been so long that I’ve written; for example that our departure date got briefly moved back by eight days and then moved up by three so that we could avoid that delay. I’ve been insane trying to finish up various freelance projects and we’ve been spending (super fun!) weekends in Chicago and Indianapolis with family and friends. We had a mini-birthday party for Owen last night with friends and Chris has had to drive to St. Louis to drop off our car.

But as dramatic as that all has been in the last two weeks, it all seems a bit irrelevant now that we are actually leaving.

How am I feeling? Nervous. And excited. Stressed. Happy to finally be leaving. Astonished that it is already time to leave.

But most of all I’m feeling profoundly grateful. I’m grateful that we have this incredible opportunity to see the world with our kids. I’m grateful that I have an amazing husband who not only wanted to do this with me, but actually pushed for it when I wasn’t sure the time was right (it definitely was). And I’m grateful that we have such wonderful family and friends who make leaving so hard. Love to you all.