To The Pacific

Dad left at 3:00 this morning for his mission trip to Burma. Last night he packed a suitcase full of dried meat and granola bars and then cooked a big family dinner for his own send off. As he's already finished taking pills to ward off Typhoid Fever, he silently moved on to chasing his oatmeal cookies with a Malaria caplet. He packed a tiny little pocket knife "for protection" and spent the rest of his evening acting as though he was simply going to Lynchburg on business.
"Aren't you nervous?" we kept asking him.
"Why would I be nervous?" he asked.
"Because you're going on a secret mission!"
"No." he responded calmly.
A few moments of silence passed by.
"I'm worried." Ellen said
"Why would you be worried?" Dad uttered with outrage. He doesn't have enough sense to realize the potential danger of his own adventure.
"What if there's an air raid?" I suggested. Mom sat quietly, waiting for a satisfying response.
"What's wrong with you women?!" Dad howled and then scampered off to unload tools from his truck.
"Don't be a hero!" I shouted as the front door closed behind him.

I will have no way of updating you on his whereabouts or whether he even makes it to Burma at all, for Mom and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Auckland and could also be easily lost to the depths of the South Pacific.
Let's a say a few prayers for the Union's, shall we?

We leave in less than 24 hours and I have yet to pack or do laundry. I've been busy saying goodbye to folks and enjoying Ari and my last venture to the Surf Bar. I also had my last day at Duvall and I was ignored all day by the girls who's work I do for them and then not told goodbye when I left at 4:59. It made me so angry that I almost told them so.

Ari is leaving for her new life in Athens on Monday so today we have to say goodbye. I've made a list of things for Taylor to watch over while I'm gone and have made an agreement with Buddy that neither of us will be sad about missing each other except at night while we try to fall asleep. I just hate leaving that dog. He will be staying with Ellen while we are gone and Brett agreed to surprising him with Grace visits on occasion.

Mom and I have a horrendous 8 hour layover in Los Angeles while we wait for our 13 hour flight to New Zealand. She has planned for us to go to Venice Beach in this time which we are excited about though we both realized we now need three different changes of clothes for our day in transit: comfortable in-flight pants, something appropriate for a California beach, and then long pants and a coat for our arrival in chilly Auckland. "I can't put all that in my carry-on!" Mom said. I believe this is the only aspect of this trip that Mom hasn't yet figured out.

And that is that. Off we go. There shall be no blog posts for a little over two weeks which is something I'm sure you've become quite accustomed to. Enjoy these last few lovely scenes from my favorite place in the world and send us lots of good traveling juju. Especially Dad. Send him lots of juju.