You know, the baseboards could use a cleaning

I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line I began to hate packing for trips.

I used to travel quite a bit for work. That packing was easy. I had my dry cleaned business clothes, I had my very favorite American Tourister, I had my mostly pre-packed toiletry bag, I had my attaché bag since I refused to call it a briefcase. I could start packing, unrushed, 20 minutes before bedtime the night before my 8am flight and be confident I wouldn’t forget anything.

Nowadays, though, with days, weeks, months…and in the current case, years…of warning, I just can’t get it together to pack until the very last minute. Despite all sorts of promises and claims and plans, every trip-eve you can find me and Rob pulling clothes out of the closet at 11pm, cat freaked out by the presence of suitcases, and us humans bemoaning the ungodly hour we have to set the alarm for in the morning.

I haven’t figured out for certain what my issue is. At first I thought maybe I had that retirement disease of Oh, I have plenty of time-itis. That’s a dangerous little ailment that leaves one rushing needlessly for any number of appointments, including pedicures. No, my current theory is I hate putting outfits together. I have no problem assembling the electronic gear and reading material and endless confirmation numbers. It’s the clothes part I dread. I hate trying to determine days or weeks in advance what I’ll feel like wearing on a random morning in a far-away locale. I hate trying to figure out a Garanimals wardrobe to ensure countless mix-n-match combos. I’m annoyed by trying to winnow my shoe selection to just two pairs. And my recent misread of the weather in Rhode Island, resulting in me wearing the same pair of increasingly wrinkled pants for four days, has left me rather insecure.

I’m leaving next week for a trip with my mom for three weeks. We’ve had it planned for a few years. We’re calling it our Centennial Trip in celebration of 2008 – the year I turned 40 and Mom turned 60. I’ve got my list of Electronics, Medications, and Other all figured out. Given the Great Norwalk Trip to Alaska, I feel comforted that my medication list is the longest of the three. I may help pay for souvenirs by opening a Walgreen’s outlet out of my tote bag.

But my clothes list? Utterly untouched. I’ve got a bazillion things to do in the coming days, things to prepare for leaving both Rob and Woodhaven for three whole weeks, so it really would be wise to get this packing list figured out. But, well, I really should inventory some wine we bought a few weeks ago. Oh, and the car needs to be vacuumed. And the cat needs to be brushed. And I really need to update my blog.

Drat. Now that one’s off the list.