I'm always anxious before flying

Technically, it is after midnight where I live so I am late on this, but since I haven't gone to bed yet, I'm going to count this post as Monday's entry. It's still Monday in the States, so this shouldn't even be much of a stretch. Right?

Today was full of some ups and downs. I had a follow-up meeting at the Red Cross building for some public affairs issues, but those sneaky folks surprised me with a nice recognition for my volunteer work with the Armed Forces Network. One of my friends even made brownies and homemade caramel! You know what they say: the way to a person's heart is through her stomach.

After that I ran a couple of boring errands and caught the bus home. I had a nice - though stilted - conversation with an older gentleman on the bus. He clearly wasn't a frequent rider, at least of that route, because he kept asking the driver when we would get to our town. (I live four miles from the Army base, and have to pass through at least three towns before mine.) He ascertained that my French is just as bad (or good) as my Italian, and bid me adieu and good wishes in French before he exited the bus. Talking to strangers on buses in America is generally frowned upon, but here I think it makes me brave. And I learn something every time I try to converse with a local, so the effort is worth it.

I came home and had another nap, as I'm still not quite over my cold, and then started packing. Since my uniforms are at my father-in-law's house, I was able to pack relatively light. Just a laptop bag and backpack, which isn't bad considering I have three ginormous textbooks to haul back and forth, and I fit a sweater and rain jacket and three pairs of shoes in there. After I got my packing mostly done, I started cleaning up around the house, and got a notification about the car. I know this is the second time saying it, but that is another post entirely. Once the issue is resolved to my satisfaction, I will certainly blog about it, but for now it is still a work in progress. I spent three or four hours working on that this afternoon, and managed to sweep the whole house, clean the bathroom, and scrub the kitchen counters. Oh and I finished all the dishes (lots of random tea cups and water glasses scattered throughout the house which I'm choosing to blame on my cold) and washed all the bathmats, too.

All in all, not a very exciting day, but it felt like a productive one. Tomorrow is a travel day, and I'm excited to get back to Florida!