Packing...Finally

I've put off starting to pack this week for 2 reasons.... (1) I didn't want to get all packed and then be setting around the house for a few days waiting to leave and (2) Morris knows what suitcases look like, what they are used for and he gets left behind. I've been quietly "staging" a few things the last few days and he hasn't caught onto that yet so it was safe to do. This morning I got the suitcases down from the top shelf in the garage and left them out in the garage - not wanting to push my luck. But then he goes out in the garage and spots them - not good. Since then I have been clung to, ignored, cussed out - you name it. Morris has a very large vocabulary and I'm so glad I can't understand it..... I told him he was going along on this trip and even showed him his very own suitcase but the message got lost somewhere in the translation. Included in the staged items for his suitcase are cans of  TUNA, other boring cat food, Kitty Valium, baby syringe to give him the Valium, hair brush to cut down on furballs, hair roller to get fur off my clothes, a gallon baggy of fresh litter so I don't have to carry the big box into the hotels, a box of sandwich size baggies for cleaning out the litter box, his medical list from the vet, flea drops, nail clippers - just a few things needed by a cat who doesn't know he is a cat. Then there will be the leash, pet carrier, pet crate, scratching post, litter box, food dishes, food place mat, and his favorite pillow to nap on. My things will go in the leftover car space.....
The whole packing process is just bringing back so many memories of the great trip to Little Rock that Larry and I had 2 years ago. I read something recently that was written by a woman who lost her husband 13 years ago that is so true.  She said "I find myself overwhelmed by the presence of his absence."  That is exactly the way I am feeling!  We learn to carry on and we start the process of creating a new life for ourselves but that "ever present absence" still permeates our life. This week that absence has been especially strong.