single digits and lasts

we are officially in single digits people.  chris and i have been thinking about actually packing for a few days now, and have spent too much hard earned money on deodorant, gold bond and silica gel packs.

along with these ridic purchases, we've also begun the series of "lasts" in america.  you know, our "last"  five guys burger, our "last" day of sleeping in on our comfy bed, our "last" good pasta and bread.

we captured that final "last" on chris' little brother's iphone last night:

vapiano's serves up delicious italian pasta, with fresh ingredients. yum.

the other night, chris and i were tossing questions back and forth, and he offered "who will you miss most?"  after determining that boomer was not an appropriate answer (something about her not being human or some such), i landed upon scott's girlfriend jenny.

it's pretty much impossible to actually choose one person i'll miss the most, but over the last two years, jenny has become my little sister, and we've had so much fun with our marsh boys together.  i'm going to miss talking about everything and nothing with this lady, seeing her every few weekends, and hearing about her college experience as she navigates shitty friends, crazy saturday nights, and life with scotty.

i love my family dearly, and chris' family is very much my second family.  so, cindy and nancy, don't go thinking you're getting off easy.  chris and i are going to miss you both more than you know.  we're counting on that visit from each of you!

let's just pause as we realize that we're now at less than 8 days until our departure.  annnddd, go.

telling everyone

it's been an arduous process, to be sure, but knowing it's out of our hands is both better and worse.

better because we've done all we can.

worse, because we have nothing to do now but wait.

better, because we know we're doing a great job on our end.

worse, because explaining to family, friends and co-workers that now we have to wait until perhaps april to hear if/where/when we're going is incredibly impossible.

very few people, save for those who've gone through the process, realize how time consuming and multi stepped the process actually is.

i've begun explaining it by saying:

"it's like an eight step process and we're on step five of eight. we've mailed everything in, and now we're waiting for our time to arrive for a nurse to review. that's step six.  then, we'll move to placement for steps seven and eight, which hopefully will lead to an invitation, when we'll actually know if/where/when we're going."

this is usually met with blank stares and general nods.  i believe i've tried to explain where i am in the process seven times at work, and three times at least to some people.

meh well.

the waiting game...