And Away We Go!

 

We've done this countless times before: wing off in to the wild blue yonder, headed for a distant land, often for months at a time.

Frequent-traveler types tend to have everything wired, and can toss a tiny carry-on bag onto a bed, and a half-hour later have everything they need cleverly packed and ready!

I am so not one of those people.

There is almost nothing about my personality that suggests living in two different countries would be a good idea. 

 

Why Do I Hate Transitions So Much?

I'm a Pessimist!

You'd think, as someone who used to be a therapist, and who has gone on innumerable Personal Growth Quests during my lifetime, I'd have managed to turn this shit around by now. But for all my positive thinking mantras, my attempts at self hypnosis, my cognitive-behavioral techniques, my meditation practice and breathing exercises: I'm still, underneath, Eeyore, always convinced that anything that can go wrong, will. And pessimism thrives in unpredictible environments, and is there anything more unpredictible than modern long-distance air travel?

And a Scaredy-Cat.

Call it an anxiety disorder or whatever, I've been on probably hundreds of airplanes in my life and I never am quite convinced the damn plane isn't going to crash.  

I Hate Making Decisions.

What might I need over the next 5 months that they don't have available in Spain? (There are a surprising number of things in this category! For example, they don't do drugstores the way we do, and things like anti-perspirant deodorants, Tums, ibuprofen etc are dificult or impossible to find). What might I want to wear? How much of my workout stuff should I take? 

And I am a procrastinator.

We are leaving tomorrow, and my wife is of course already packed and organized, and I am not, so why am I writing a blog post when I should be packing? 

But Why Are the Transitions Totally Worth It? 

 

We love being in Provincetown when we are in Provincetown, and we love Valencia when we are in Valencia! But everytime it comes time to make the shift I am certain that this time will be different, and somehow miserable. So I am always surprised just how excited and relieved I am to once again be somewhere that is familiar yet new and fresh. And in the case of Spain, still foreign and challenging, but in a good way.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to a crazy split life like this, and most people wouldn't want to. Even luckier, I married someone who is much more calm and practical about dealing with any challenges that arise, who can talk me down from my anxieties and figure out what gate we need to be at or what train we should catch.

We don't know how long we'll keep flying back and forth, with two addresses, two phone numbers, two sets of dear friends, two medical systems, and two government bureaucracies to deal with. I just need to tame my neurotic little brain over the next couple of days until we get there, and hope that what always has happened before will happen again. Fingers crossed.

And now I suppose I should seriously start stuffing things in my suitcase. Hasta pronto!

Anyone one else have trouble with travel or other transitions? Or are you all organized and chill?