The prelude

The week leading up to our departure to Paris was a bit chaotic. To begin with, it was the week in which I had to get all the final forms through the various offices at Loma Linda. I didn't know that this would be an exercise almost as frustrating as the doctoral program preceding it. Then, on the Wednesday morning before we left, as I was trying to get us out the door for dance class, I got simultaneous telephone calls from Walmart.com and Discover card alerting me to suspicious activity on my credit card. It turns out that my credit card information was stolen (probably over the internet) and someone had a field day for about two days before being caught, to the tune of about $4000. So I had to deal with the fraud investigation people and all that jazz (fortunately, we were responsible for none of the fraudulent charges). That meant closing that account and being issued a new card and account number.

Earlier that week, Rebecca woke from her nap complaining of a sore throat, and then began running a fever a few hours later. We went off to the urgent care to learn that she had strep throat. We got her on antibiotics and she was feeling good again the next day. Of course, on Thursday Ramy texted to let me know that his throat had a tingle. Wouldn't you know that not long afterward, I began feeling the same. By that night, we both knew we had it. He went to Urgent Care and I called my (wonderful) doctor in Nashville, and we both started antibiotics.

All of this was in between the piles of clothes and sundry items that I was trying to decide whether to pack or leave at home, and in addition to Ramy trying to clear a lot of cases so they wouldn't pile up while he was gone and me doing two big evals and writing the reports. Somehow, we all got out the door in one piece and took a red-eye to Nashville on Friday night. We arrived in Nashville on Saturday morning and had breakfast at the Loveless Cafe! This was the way to start a vacation! For the next couple of days, my mom and I did some last minute shopping and Ramy did some work at the house for my mom. We even managed to squeeze in a dinner with the Girl Posse before leaving.

Finally, the day arrived! Tuesday morning arrived, and we packed the truck with four suitcases, three carry-ons, a Disney Princess backpack and lunchbox, and two purses. Wouldn't you know that on our way to Huntsville, it started raining? So Ramy and I covered the luggage with tarps, and we arrived at Huntsville International Airport with lots of time to spare. We had about a four hour layover in Charlotte, in which time we grabbed some food and loaded up on last minute snacks and trashy magazines in preparation for a long flight. The flight from Charlotte to Paris was about 8 hours, and we all got quite a bit of sleep on the plane...