Tomorrow, we're leaving for France. It's time for vacation. Since May, I've been taking advantage of every nap and free evening to work on my university class, and study for the GREs. I finished the ninth, and final essay, on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yesterday. It felt good to put that beast back on the shelf*. Now I can devote myself entirely to the GREs - I'm planning to test in December. A lot will be riding on those scores, I think.

My hope was to finish the class work before we left, and characteristically, I drug it out until the end. So the vacation fever didn't hit until today. Yay! That's why I'm typing this instead of finishing my survey of mythology. Because who can concentrate the day before a big vacation? (my husband, that's who - pain that he is).

In case you're wondering, preschool passed as smoothly as we could have expected. I waited outside in the hallway for an hour, crouched, to avoid being spotted, between a file cabinet and a shelf of hymnals, with another over-invested mother. After that I left, but returned to find him sobbing - I was told he has been doing so for 20 minutes. As usual, I only hope he is not traumatized, and that it will get easier. I am optimistic.

* An interesting, important work, but not at all amusing. Not even for a moment. I would have never made it through if wasn't required of me.

Happy vacation, relax enjoy and soak up the sites. I only wish that it was time for my own vacation.

Love, Mom