Eleanor Roosevelt said once, “Do one thing everyday that scares you.”  I’m good for today then, because I too am at last packed.  Trying to fit three months of your life into a tiny Northface knockoff is the kind of scary that keeps you up at night and makes you stupid.  It is the kind of scary that makes two quite intelligent, well-traveled young ladies call each other up with panic in their gentle voices and worry out loud for hours that they will both collapse in the middle of nowhere under the weight of their packs and their faces will eaten off by European cats and they will be never heard from again and the travel blower dryer purchased especially for this trip will go unused and wasted. 

 

When I found the two matching backpacks Danielle and I will be hauling around Europe, the little lady in the shop watched me try one on and giggled at me.  It was the biggest one they sold and seemed to be two-thirds my height.  “Too big!” she said.  Oh if that little lady could see my backpack now.  When I tried it on in the store, it was stuffed neatly with newspaper, to give it a nice shape.  Now my backpack looks lumpy and weird, and oh yah, somehow even bigger than it was when I first tried it on.  No, heels do not pack well.  Yes, blow dryers are heavy.  But these little gems keep me feeling like a human instead of a backpacker.

 

It is not too heavy though.  I tested it out the other day with a spin around our upstairs, which is basically like an obstacle course made out of variety of hazards on blue carpet.  Both the backpack and I did very well and I happy to report I am doing a lot less worrying about the packing and a lot more getting excited about the trip, which is the way it is supposed to be.

 

I don’t think Eleanor Roosevelt ever went wwoofing, but I think that nice lady would understand why we are going on this strange adventure.  It’s a little scary but its good for us, and it is my last chance at adventure before I must settle down into a normal life of doing adult things, like owning furniture and having an address where I can receive bills and magazine subscriptions. 

 

For this trip I have engaged in intense preparation.  I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding twice and planted six flowerpots on my parents’ deck.  It should also be said that I arranged a Horse Tutorial with Shanna, our friend who knows horses, but we decided to go play with Cindy’s babies instead. 

 

So we fly tomorrow from my dear Minneapolis airport and will be in Athens by 10:30 am on June 3rd.  I’m most excited about 1) actually getting to spend time with Danielle, as we are hetero life mates but have lived in separate cities for 6 years, 2) getting my picture taken in front of the Acropolis, 3) eating like a farmer.