Readers Rush to My Rescue

...and I thank them for that! ;) Much gratitude to everyone who wrote posts or sent e-mails shoring me up from the body blow of parental criticism. ;) It's so nice to know you're there!

I was a total wreck last night. I was, in point of fact, very tired, but that didn't keep me from being a blinky blinkster in front of my iMac at 4:00 a.m., checking the weather in Chongqing (the Itsy Bitsy Spider won't get far up the garden spout in the next ten days!) and comparing hotels in Hong Kong. Which I kind of wish I didn't because we will NOT be staying in the enchantingly named Shangri-La that Lynette told me about yesterday when we went to visit her and Ava (Hi Ava! You're adorable!) We'll be staying in the Regal Kowloon, which has 3 1/2 stars instead of 5. Bah. It is located near some sort of ferry stop and I like the sound of that--I even read that we can take a one-hour ferry to the island nation of Macau (can you tell I'm feeling some resistance to settling down??)

The trip is finally coming together, and that's so weird, after hearing about these final steps in almost legendary proportion for over a year. We had our conference call with the travel agent yesterday (none too successfully, as the "conference" part seemed to elude us) and had another call from CCAI confirming our final requests for our In-China flights and hotels. We were told that we'll receive our Final Travel Packet (notice that first word!) on Thursday with a full break-down of the itinerary and all our traveling companions (at last!) And this coming Monday, the reknowned "group conference call with Josh and Lily" at precisely 2:00. I am so curious about what happens in the reknowned group conference call! Do Josh and Lily (the married couple who founded CCAI) psych us up like a football team? How wonderfully strange.

In the mean time, I'm panicking. Total panic here, people. This is the last two weeks of my life as I know it. Can I say that again? No, I can't, because I might trigger a fainting spell. I've been reading my book on "Toddler Adoption" and it cheerfully reminds me that "the parents most satisfied with their toddler adoption are the ones realistically prepared for the unique joys and challenges of the toddler stage of development." Um, am I realistically prepared? How the hell would I know???

And because I can't control any of that scary and abstract something-ness, I am instead obsessing over hotels in Hong Kong. And the seat pitch on Cathay Pacific Airlines. And photos of their meals. No joke. There are websites for everything. Very useful at 4:00 a.m.