Seven Weeks

Char's friend Sheri recently wrote in her blog that "Seven weeks from now we will be in PARIS!!!"

Sheri and her daughter will be in the group going to France and Italy. I met her at our first trip dinner, where we talked about the France part of the trip (and we're still waiting for the dinner where we'll talk about the Italy part of the trip!)

But seeing it spelled out like that "seven weeks from now we will be in PARIS" was a real wake-up call.

I was going to walk a lot more.

I was going to brush up on my high school French.

I was going to do lots of things.

And, of course, I haven't done any of them.

The trip leader assures me that the walking won't be a problem; our friend Pat (who is also going on the trip--her first out of the country) assures me that most of the travel will be by bus and the walking will be in museums. I've told people that if I can't handle the walking, they can just park me at a cyber cafe and I'll be perfectly happy. A cyber cafe in Paris. What happiness.

But I do need to do something. Think about packing, if nothing else. Char sent around her packing list, which includes a bathing suit. We are going to be on the beaches of the South of France, after all. I stopped off at Target yesterday just to see if they had a tent section where I could find something that might at least cover my body and act as a bathing suit.

One thing about going into a dressing room with all those mirrors (which I try never to do), it never fails to give you a sad taste of reality...even if you're aware of "reality" in the first place.

Target had a couple of suits in the largest size that were so small on me it was embarrassing even to ME. Owell. I saved myself money. I'll bring shorts.

Walt left for Santa Barbara with a reminder that France is coming up soon and I should get back on the treadmill. Then Peggy called today to let me know that a package I'd sent to her had arrived, and to let me know that she has gotten back on the treadmill and issuing a challenge for me to do the same.

So I got back on the treadmill.

The secret, of course, is to find something to watch that holds your attention.

The thing is that I generally feel so much better afterwards that I don't know why I keep putting off doing it.

I'm starting to get excited about the trip. Nervous and excited. Walt knows my limitations and puts up with me. Most of the folks on this trip are going to be strangers and could get impatient. But I'm determined to have a good time. This opportunity might never come again (especially since I just learned that we let my 60,000 travel miles with United lapse -- and when will I ever have the opportunity to get THOSE again??)