Ten days of prep; eleven days before we get on the plane.  Going back to Hanoi, Vietnam. Soon.

I’ve made a long list a few weeks ago—finding, buying, arranging for, packing, and some home tasks because I love coming home to a cleaner house than I usually live in. I always do this. Tasks that are too arduous and not at all important fall to the wayside, but a few non-essential tasks get done along with the travel tasks. The big one this time is going through clothes—Julia’s and mine—and culling what we do not use. I haven’t done this with Julia since we moved into this apartment. She was resistant, but she seems to be happier in the morning picking out what she will wear for the day. I parted with just a few old things and a few things that either don’t fit anymore or that I haven’t really liked for a few years but hated to get rid of because they were perfectly wearable. Someone else will benefit and enjoy—at least that is what I tell Julia.

I am on the part of the list that is starting to be about packing. I’ve decided to take very few clothes—4 days’ worth (except for underwear) to be exact—and to plan to buy there.  We did that anyway last time, so might as well travel with loose bags going.  Julia is on board, and it will be interesting to see if she can buy clothes there and wear them. It will be harder for her than for me. If it is too hard, we’ll just be washing those four changes every four days.

I am not taking jeans, which is a first for me.  I live in jeans and usually travel in them even when I don’t use them when I arrive somewhere, but Vietnam is in the 80’s and 90’s right now, and when we come back in June, we’ll be close to that here.  I keep saying all that to myself to convince myself to do as I’ve planned.  Funny, how compulsive or obsessive I can be! It does help me understand Julia just a bit when I dig down into my own muck. 

One of my plans for this trip was to find ways for Julia to be a bit away from Ed and me. I have been looking for a companion or somewhere like a day program setting where she might spend a few days or a day a week. Although pursuing this pretty strenuously, I may have completely failed.  I was very excited to connect with one center that seems to be centered on training young adults on the spectrum for work by running a café, bookstore, and media center (not sure of this last one). I was corresponding with someone who is or was a director, and he invited Julia to visit and possibly take part. Then, last week, I received an email from him that is confusing, so I don’t know if any of that will happen. Julia is excited about some independence, and I still hold out hope I can find something.

My task list divided into daily tasks was created by AI.  ChatGPT, to be exact. I’ve been playing around with AI and was feeling overwhelmed when I needed to make the list. And AI did a decent job of a list. I’ve been modifying it as I go along. Today, with the big event of the day cancelled, I can do a few things on the list that I thought I would abandon—some gardening and clean-up of a file drawer—as well as reconnoitering the contents of the green toiletries bag that usually has everything from bandaids to nail clippers to antibiotic ointment. My pharmacy in a bag. Ed always says that I can get all of it there, which is true. Absolutely. But when someone needs to get rid of a headache, it is so nice to have it instantly instead of finding a pharmacy and trying to explain my needs to someone with limited English, and me with less than limited Vietnamese. 

And the cancelling of the day’s event, a brunch, also gives me the breathing room to sit down and write. Something that I have been neglecting. I started and did not complete a post about my quick trip to Virginia to my brother-in-law’s funeral. I will finish and post, not today.

There you have it, the contents of my brain this morning.

(I seem to have lost the “continue reading” sign, so for now, this will be all on the front page. Damn!)