Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona
The next morning

Punkin: Mom, can you get me some naked paper? You know, paper without anything on it.

Ah... Tucson, Arizona. That's where we were headed. It felt like this day would never come.

All the lists had been made and items crossed off. Our bags were packed. We were just waiting on Shelley's arrival, then the arrival of the car that would take us to the airport.

I left work at noon on Friday to spend some quality time with Punkin before we went our separate ways. The two of us had a really good time, too.

Punkin was thrilled that she would get the big suitcase to take to Aunt Shelley's. All of her stuff was piled in there. Books, blankets, babies, toys, clothes, pull-ups, medicine, etc. Anything she needed would be available for her, from that suitcase. I don't know who was more excited, Shelley or Punkin.

All too soon, Shelley and Punkin were getting settled in the car for the return trip to Shelley's house. We stood inside the front door as Punkin, impatient to begin her adventure, kept waving at us and saying "GOOD BYE!" in a tone that said "You parents can just close the door now, I'm leaving. Go on, get back inside." We laughed and ran upstairs to see them leave from Punkin's bedroom window. Shelley backed the car out of the driveway and parked perpendicular to the driveway for a minute or two. We could see Punkin being quite animated in the back seat, and Shelley was laughing. We opened the windows in the room, as Shelley lowered the car windows. The next thing we heard was Punkin shouting "Get out of my room!" We pretended not to hear her and she repeated it even louder with a deeper voice. We were laughing so hard we were almost crying.

That truly eased any of the anxiety I had about leaving her. I wasn't a blubbering mess at all. We were going to miss her, but we knew she was in good hands, and having a good time.

The ride to the airport and check in for the flight were entirely uneventful. It was while we were waiting at the gate for our flight to board, however, that I realized the many shapes, sizes, personalities and races people come in. Holy cow. One woman waiting in the chairs behind us was mortified at the thought of spending the four hour plane ride in COACH. (gasp! The horror!)

Our flight was about 30 minutes late in departing, and we were all getting pretty antsy. Then we were finally on the plane, and finally on our way to sunny Arizona. It was about time!

Once in Arizona, we took a shuttle to our hotel. The total trip took about 3 minutes from start to finish, and the driver squeezed as much information as he could into that short ride. We were impressed. Tired, but impressed.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got to our room. After settling in, we went to bed. In "vacation time" it was still an early night, but we had a busy day scheduled for Saturday. We had a game to get to.

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