Prologue Plus Two

By the end of the week, I had printed all the necessary forms, signed them, and even packed my luggage--early this time. I finished laundry on Wednesday night, and folded all my clothes. I separated them by work clothes and off-duty clothes, and hung notecards on the drawers so that I knew where my things were for packing. I packed on Thursday night, getting all of my work clothes and all of my off-duty clothes into one huge suitcase.

As I got ready to leave work on Friday, one of my co-workers wished me luck, then said:

"I suppose you're not going to get any sleep tonight. You're probably so excited about getting to go to Louisiana again!"

I said I hoped that I would sleep, but I had a feeling he was right: "I am excited," I answered. I had a good reason to be.

He turned out to be right. I probably lay in bed from a little after 1:30 A.M. to about 5:30 A.M. on Saturday morning, before I finally fell asleep. That didn't do me any good. To be on time at the place where this group would leave from, I had set my alarm clock to 6:45 A.M.!

And so I "prepared" for my second trip.