summer so far

I am a bad, bad blogger.

The thing about this summer is that I’m trying to avoid my computer at all costs.  It’s been sitting here, cold and silent on my desk, for several months now, and I couldn’t be happier.  I still check email every few days, and occasionally facebook, but for the most part I’m staying away.

So to update, my summer so far has mostly been selling crazy expensive shoes to Queen Anne babies, putting together German tricycles, and cleaning up the occasional “accident”.  I’ve met many lovely people and have several wonderful stories, but if you want to hear them you’ll have to ask me.  I don’t want one of our customers stumbling across my meek and humble blog and going ballistic because they realize I’ve posted a story about their child having a meltdown over HoneyStix. 

I’ve dog-sat, I’ve napped, and I’ve gotten remarkably good at Mario Kart Wii.  I’ve also discovered that there is a small corner of my yard, behind the privacy fence and just big enough for a beach blanket, that gets sun for the majority of the day.  Heaven, right?

Today, though, I’m finishing preparations for our 2 1/2 week mega-road/camping/off-roading trip to Arkansas, with a brief stop in Oregon for the Wetzel Family Campout. 

Just typing that made my eyelid twitch.

I think my stress about this whole thing has gone subconscious.  I have this bizarre, deep, inner headache that isn’t even an ache as much as a tightening of all my skull muscles.  It’s like right before you sneeze and your whole head gets ready for it, but without the “I have to sneeze” sensation. 

Everyone’s been assuming that I’m nervous about spending days alone with Joel as we drive across the country.  “You really get to know someone when you spend that much time together,” they say.  But that isn’t it at all.  I know Joel.  We’ve practically spent the whole summer together anyway, and when we aren’t together I find myself wishing we were (insert sappy “aww” here).  I’m also not nervous about spending time with his family…at least, not at the moment.  I’ve met most of them, and I’ve been told they like me, although this will be the first time I’ve been included in a large-scale family event and, in spite of the fact that I’ve been told the whole thing is very low-key, seems to involve an awful lot of menu planning and packing planning and activity planning, all with the potential for me to make some huge faux pax that I’ll never be able to recover from…

…but I shouldn’t focus on that, because what I’m actually nervous about is, of course, Arkansas.  I’m introducing this person that I love very much to my history up to the point at which we met.  He’s meeting the other half of me.  He’s meeting my family, seeing my schools, spending time with my best friends, and experiencing what my life was like for the first 23 years. 

There’s a lot of other stuff wrapped up in that for me to be nervous about, but the gist of it is, I just want everyone to get along.  So if you ever pray for me, pray for us, that we have fun, that we don’t drive off a cliff while off-roading in Moab, and that my head doesn’t implode from my skull tightening.