It’s official: our one-way tickets are booked for Friday night!

Over the last week or so Tom and I have been packing up more stuff, getting rid of more stuff, and trying to set up as many logistics in Dublin ahead of when we arrive. I also finished a book I really enjoyed, and can’t wait to share it with you!

The kitties will be flying over by themselves on September 3rd. It was a tough decision and it still makes me sad, but it will be good for us to be able to get their food, litter boxes, etc. set up before they arrive. They’ll be staying at the house with Tom’s brother who has stayed with them before. Our hope is that will be less traumatic than boarding them for a couple of days with strangers in a whole new environment before they take their first flight!

The reality is that we wouldn’t have seen them on the travel day anyway. The pet transportation company would have picked them up from the house, and we wouldn’t have seen them again until we could pick them up from a vet in Dublin. But now we won’t see them for four whole days. Today the kitties go for their pre-travel check-up at the vet to make sure they’re healthy and ready to fly.

Physically I’ve been completely exhausted. I had enough energy yesterday to go for a walk and even tried running for a while. It felt wonderful! But I promptly needed a nap after I got back and ate some food. My legs hurt the rest of the day too. I think my Fibromyalgia is flaring up from the stress: my body aches everywhere and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get enough sleep.

What’s left for us to do? At this point we’re making final trips to the town recycling center, and to drop off donations. We’re also making some last-ditch efforts to sell a few items that are too nice or too new to bring to the dump or leave on the side of the road. The dumpster has been picked up, cleaning and landscaping services have been scheduled, and all there is left to do is wait.