All My Life In A Bag

I leave Paraguay, almost certainly for the last time, on Thursday night. It's exciting and nerve-wracking and bittersweet all at the same time.

My son is VERY excited to be going back to Seattle. He is at a good age to do it...he'll certainly miss his friends (he has several good ones here), but the sting will be a lot less than when he's older. How many school chums from kindergarten do you remember and pine for?

This is "me."

It's a little surreal seeing my bag packed. We have a single suitcase for each of us (plus a couple carry-ons with diapers and clothes for a short stint in Panama), and it needs to include all our clothes, shoes, and toys (including books and DVDs). That I could fit my entire life from here into a single bag...wow. Actually, it's not so strange that I have so little to pack (the bulk of my possessions remain in Seattle with my beagles). No, it's that I was able to exist down here for so many years with so little of the "stuff" I consider essential. My house back in the States may be ready for a serious purging of the extraneous upon our arrival.

Of course, not EVERYTHING is going in the big bag. The really important essentials will be going with me in my trusty backpack:

My research books.

I doubt I'll have time to blog anything more before I get back to the US of A...and even then I'll be doing a shit-ton of "transitioning" (getting Diego settled in school and Sofia in some type of daycare arrangement in addition to job searching). But I'll be "making the rounds" and trying to keep abreast of the blog-o-sphere as much as possible.

Wish me luck, folks.