better late than never

ok...so we are leaving for alaska tomorrow morning. if you know anything about me at all, you can bet that i have detailed itineraries, budgets, maps, and confirmation data all printed and neatly stashed in a plastic folder. but you can also bet that my suitcase is not packed. it is in theory. i have organized lists and stacks all over the house, but nothing is officially in a bag yet. the last time we took a big summer trip, this kind of procrastinating came back to bite us in the rear end. we were heading to north carolina for a week with big plans to start in the mountains on the west and drive across the state to the ocean. needless to say, we had a large variety of packing to do. because there are always better things to do (like watch tv and write blogs at 10pm), we continued to put it off. around 12am, we decided we'd better get started. after all, our flight was scheduled for 7:15 that morning. with almost an hour drive, we would need to leave around 5:15 in order to drive, park, check bags, and get through security. as we lugged out the suitcases and sat in our closet, we joked about falling asleep on the ground without setting an alarm and missing our flight, thus ruining every well thought out, pre-purchased event on our schedule for the week. a few laughs and several clasps and zippers later, we crashed into bed at one. alarm was set for 4:30.

i awoke to marcus' loud and horrified voice. "oh my gosh, molly. it's 5:52!!!" yeah right. he's always pulling this kind of crap. i rolled over. "oh my gosh! oh my gosh! molly!!" then it hit me. he was frantic, and he NEVER calls me by my name. i sat up and saw it all before me. the clock indeed said 5:52, and in the 5 seconds since he had first called my name, he was already dressed and carrying suitcases out of our room. you might as well have shocked me with a difibrillator. i had so much adrenaline burst through my veins that i seriously think i could have flown myself to the airport if i had flapped my arms hard enough. i have never been so scared for my life as i was in the car to bush intercontinental that morning. and when we missed the parking exit, i thought marcus might have a heart attack right there in the driver's seat. we had a schedule to keep! stupid jokes!

you know those crazy people who are always running in the airport and you think, "dumb person. why didn't you plan better?" picture two of those dumb people. we got to our gate, out of breath, at 6:55. i don't think the adrenaline officially stopped until we clicked the seatbelts. and only then did we see the humor. surely we had set a world record! or a record for stupidity. either way, we learned a valuable lesson. or so i thought...until i started writing this. i'd better get cracking. our flight leaves a little later in the morning this time, so we should be safe. i'm actually more worried about the bears than about missing the flight. after last summer, i don't know if i have enough adrenaline-generating power left to defend myself against one of those terrifying beasts! so if you don't hear from me again, assume it was a bear.