Traveling North in the Winter

Today I head to Williamsburg, Virginia to spend a few days with my mom and dad.  My spouse will stay in South Florida to teach his classes and hold down the home front.  I had thought about trying to plan a trip at the holidays, but in some ways a January trip is easier and cheaper.  We're all much less busy in this last week of January than we were in December.

That decision was relatively easy, but now for the hard part--the packing.  I am flying, so the amount of stuff I can bring is more limited than if I had a whole car to fill up.

I am fortunate that my mom and I wear the same size coat, so I don't need to bring one.  They'll meet me at the airport with a coat to wear.  I don't really own a coat that's appropriate for the cold weather that the nation is experiencing this week.

I'm also lucky that they have a washer and dryer.  If all my socks get soaked, I have a way to fix that.  I am wondering if I need boots.  I think I'll take a risk and leave them behind.  When I fly to Portland in March, I'll need to bring them then; that's one reason why I'm flying Southwest to the AWP, so that I can have suitcases with me.

It's not just clothes and shoes, of course.  I'm thinking of this time as a mini-retreat, so I'll bring markers and a sketch book, along with my manuscript of linked short stories.  I'm looking forward to a chance to read it straight through.  And I'll bring my laptop, although I probably could do without it.

I am taking books, of course, books printed on paper.  Here, too, I'm lucky.  My folks have books if I run out.  I also feel lucky in that we all like to read.  I wouldn't mind of few days of reading together, cooking together, and good conversation.

Again, I'm lucky--it's exactly the kind of get-away I'm likely to have.  In this work year of an accreditation visit, let me grab these opportunities while I can see them.