You know those last things to do before a trip? Should be quick, right?
Mistaken.
Every time I make mistakes. things aalways It will take longer than I intend. Why am I so surprised? I recently read a book titled Four thousand weeks: time management for mortals by Oliver Burkeman and boy, am I glad I did.
This is not a self-help book. Turns out he’s more philosophical and now one of my keepers. When it comes to books, I only keep them if I want to reread them or keep them for some special reason. Other than that, I’ll pass it on for someone else to enjoy. That being said, a friend is borrowing this book. It’s pretty good.
Four thousand weeks: time management for mortals mention that you will never be able to do everything. To reduce the stress load, you simply decide not to do something. It’s just not going to happen and that’s okay.
It’s a good thing I washed my car and vacuumed it a couple weeks ago. It had become an embarrassment to me knowing that people could see me driving a vehicle with insect sand decorating the grill and bird droppings coating the hood of my car.
Cleaning my car for the second time was on my to-do list. Like filling my tires with air to 40 psi, changing the filter on the cat water bowl, deep scrubbing their litter boxes, making a very important phone call (I mean, I’ll survive without him.), sew a couple of shirts for the beach (I left that one a month ago), wash the sheets… yes. None of this was done.
I’ll tell my friend to fill my tires with air.
I managed to find my fish earrings that I had placed in my glove compartment months ago. The problem was that it was full of napkins. I found one earring but I’m afraid the other one fell behind the glove compartment because it was too full of napkins.
Those are my favorite earrings!
I mean, I didn’t use them for months, but I didn’t forget about them either.
The other thing I found? My vehicle records from 2022. I don’t know why I had four of these things in my car.
My priorities emerged to prepare my backpack. I’ll be living off that thing for six months, so it quickly rose to number one on my list.
I’m glad I read that book on time management. It would have stressed me out thinking about all those other things that needed to be done.
My day started at 1:00 p.m. I was leaving tomorrow morning to catch an early flight. While I had a lovely visit with a wonderful friend of mine during the first part of the day, the afternoon was free time.
My scope took less time to prepare than I expected. While I learned last night not to iron the synthetic fibers on my hat (it now has a battle scar), sewing the cat patches onto my new helmet was a relatively quick job. Sewing often goes wrong for me, but at least I have the ability to make a super brave garment for the trail.
One of the most important things in my backpack (aside from my shoes, trekking poles, food, headlamp, tent, battery, and water filter) is my permit. In fact, I need two: a fire permit that allows me to use my stove in California and my PCT permit.
I got ahead of the game and printed them out the other day. The PCT permit is partially important because once the day arrives to start the tour, I no longer have access to the portal to print it.
Don’t worry, I saved a copy on my phone.
Well, I folded these two documents and placed them on the side table next to the sectional sofa in the living room. It seems that they flew away at night and were nowhere to be found.
The only other thing about it? I use my mom’s printer at her hair salon and it is very slow.
Really, very slow.
It has been low on ink for days (it needs a little more). With that, it took about ten minutes to prepare the documents for printing and another twenty minutes to print them.
Like I said: slow.
Unfortunately, with my necessary paperwork, I could move on to the less arduous part of my day.
A search at Target, CVS, the local drugstore, and Walmart left me without the Leuko tape or KT blister prevention tape I was looking for. I settled for Compeed blister care. Looks like I should have ordered this from Amazon. As much as I would like to support the local market, sometimes it can be impossible trying to find the products I need.
Walmart had all the food I needed: protein chips, instant ramen, cliff bars, tuna packets, tortillas, electrolyte packets, snickers bars. My first transportation will include two breakfasts, four lunches and three dinners.
With a load of laundry in the washing machine, I began the long process of packing.
For my first aid kit, I sorted paracetamol, Benadryl, and anti-diarrheal pills into sachets.
The antidiarrheal medication comes in small tablets individually packaged in aluminum foil casings. I recruited my brother and his girlfriend to help me get them out. They come six in a package, so his girlfriend opened one and my brother opened the other five (I couldn’t open any). Apparently my brother is too strong, so I take two full tablets plus eight half tablets.
I’ll be prepared if some little person needs a half dose for an upset stomach.
My backpack needed to be fully packed to make sure everything fit. Then I could break it again. The next thing was to unpack and lay everything out. Did I get everything I needed?
Managing these small details was exhausting. My trekking poles, my pocket knife, and my lighter go in my checked bag. Battery and headlamp in my carry-on. Where were my blue socks? I have two pairs, but they like to run away and hide among the rest of my hiking gear.
Dad helped me along the way while he also finished visiting his own friends and put his things away.
«Make sure you sleep well tonight,» he said. It was important for the big day ahead. I looked at the clock. 10:30 p.m. I smiled. I would get up at 3:00 am to catch my flight.
«Okay. I’ll do it,» I replied.
Dad smiled in return. We both knew it was late.
Who needs sleep for an eight-hour day of travel followed by multiple 20-mile hikes?
I pulled out a small shelf that I used to store sewing fabric in my room. In this, I organized my clothes, medications and toothbrushes, and excess food for my mom and friends to use when the time comes that I need a box sent to me.
Unfortunately, my clothes were washed. I folded it and put it away. My space was tidy, my bags were packed (Dad told me not to unpack too many times because I was worried about whether or not I had what I needed), and I was ready for an episode of shadow and bone.
I say goodbye to my brother and his girlfriend. I should see them very soon (hopefully in July, and if not, in October or November) and I climbed into bed.
When the lights went out, I said a little prayer.
God, please bring me a cat to sleep with tonight. Did you know? Alright. Don’t worry about that. You’ve already done a lot for me.
My mind continued to spin for a few minutes. Not ten minutes later, I heard a familiar sound. hit, hit, hit of a cat coming down the stairs. My door creaked open. It was sweet Penelope, the purest soul on this planet. It looks like a miniature panther, jet-black fur and greenish-yellow eyes.
Penelope has a loud, comforting purr. She snuggled up next to me as I stroked her head. He wrapped his paws around my wrist and brought his head closer to my hand.
Thank you God. I apreciate it.
The cats haven’t slept with me as much lately. But I’m glad my last night was accompanied by one of my critters.
My mind finally calmed down. It was intentional for me not to think about how much I would miss here at home. I didn’t think about my niece and nephew, my grandmother, my mom, my friends, my cats. How much they would miss me. If I thought about these things, the pains of separation would throb inside my chest. So I closed my eyes and petted my sweet cat.
I fell asleep with Penelope around my arm, happy to be by my side.
In three and a half hours, I was ready to go somewhere that would surely change my life. I would face the unknown, but that’s what I’m going for: to grow from the discomfort.
