Or, in our case, it begins with Amtrak baggage clerks (crusty Boston guys with soft hearts) taking compassion on this mom and son team, sending us to the First Class lounge.   Sam is pleased with the free newspapers, soda and treats. I'm loving the free wifi (not sure I'll have that after this) and the fact that they will escort us over to board 15 minutes before every one else loads (you know, women and children first).

So far, so good.

We've had a bit of a whirlwind weekend, a revolving door of comings and goings. And emotions.

G's parents arrived on Thursday for a quick visit.

Lauren arrived home at 6 Sunday morning, happy and exhausted. 

Maddy left last night to stay with a good friend for a day before camp.

Then, lots of packing and laundry and a flurry of departures this morning to airport, train station, girls' camp.

{Ready, break!}

Oh, and quietly at the center of all this revolving...G was sustained as bishop of our ward yesterday.

{Speechless}

Good thing I have long stretches of hours ahead of me to slow down, take a breath, and ponder things.

 Happy Monday!

We're doing it.

We're boarding the Lakeshore Limited in Boston on Monday, arriving the next morning for a day in Chicago, then traveling on the Southwest Chief to LA, arriving Thursday morning.  I haven't figured out yet whether I am certifiably INSANE to do this (we'll know soon enough!) but I'm also not sure when we'll ever again have a span of days like this, a reason to do it, and Sam's enthusiasm for this kind of trip with his mom. So we're going for it.  At the very least, we'll have some good stories and Sam will remember riding the train across the country with his mom when he was 11.

It did give me pause, I'll admit, when we were in the orthodontist's office for an hour and a half on Monday and the wait just about undid us. We were rolling our eyes and practically moaning--when will we be done? there's nothing to do--and we even had books with us! Joke's on us, I guess!! Next week that little hour and half will seem like an appetizer--no, a bite of an appetizer--compared to the 65 hours on the train.  Hopefully it doesn't end up being our own personal Throw Momma from a Train situation.

So here's my confession: I'm completely romanticizing this adventure.  And I'm okay with that. I have this vision of the Orient Express (minus the murdering) and quality time with Sam.  Maybe I'll begin a novel, a la J.K. Rowling's train scribblings that launched Harry Potter!  Maybe Sam can make a movie! And I'll come up with new insights about life! Plus I'll finish my pre-dissertation work and...and...we can do speeches at every stop to crowds of waiting blog readers, patriotic bunting behind us! I know these are fanciful--I do know--but it's been part of the fun of the planning and anticipation.  

p.s. Do you think it's going overboard to ask G to come and run alongside the departing train with tears in his eyes? With maybe a 1940s suit and a fedora? I have my handkerchief all ready for waving farewell.

Have you had the chance to check out the very funny Catalog Living? Regular old catalog photos (so often ridiculous in their staging), captioned in the voices of Gary and Elaine, the supposed inhabitants of this catalog world.  A must-read, daily laugh for me. It's so hard to choose but here are a couple of favorites lately:

Gary, we were having such a lovely afternoon with the Andersons until you decided you just had to show off your string ball.

Elaine wasn’t about to let some hot flashes get in the way of balancing the checkbook with the abacus.

Elaine was not amused by Gary’s passive-aggressive response to her request to “garnish the cocktails.”

Today was braces day for lovely Miss M. I picked her up early from her gig as a junior counselor for a camp here in town and luckily, unlike Sam's fiasco, we knew this was the big day. Here's the before and after, via phone camera:

She chose Olive Garden for the celebratory meal, where she practiced chewing pizza (no crusts) and flashing her glittering smile. Later we picked up mac & cheese and potatoes to mash and watermelon and ice cream, special floss and extra Advil. I think she is definitely rocking the sparklemouth (although a bit sore).