A Life Less Ordinary

Today I was sitting in the local mall parking lot finishing up my Chic Filet ice cream cone after doing Body Pump, running to Publix, dropping Camryn at school, and returning something to TJ Maxx. I had the moon roof open, windows down, radio playing. A car load of tough looking guys pulled in a few spots over and I heard David's voice in my head telling me to lock the doors, which I did, except that all the windows and the roof were still wide open. I had a fleeting moment of anxiety and then it passed as the gang made their way into the mall, replaced by the full blown fear when I thought about how extraordinary this day would be once we lived in Brazil.

I'm not sure if I'll venture to the local mall. There is no Chic Filet. Do they even have ice cream as we know it? Will anybody have heard of Body Pump? The grocery store will not be our brand new Publix and I won't be able to read the labels. If a tough gang eyes me up and down, it'll probably result in a real robbery. And many cars are made with bullet proof windows that you never roll down.

We're happy to say, that Friday October 15 is the day we fly off to Brazil to figure out what kind of life we're going to make for ourselves. We will be visiting both the city of Sao Paulo and it's suburban Utopian sister of Alphaville. It'll be a world wind tour, visiting three schools, a hospital, grocery stores, shopping malls, parks, and house hunting on top of it. I'm trying to mentally prepare for the slower pace, untimeliness, and general communication break downs I'm sure we'll encounter along the way. Our main goal is to secure a school for the kids on this trip, although we're prepared to negotiate a lease if all goes well.

My biggest stress of the day is what to pack. It's cooler in Sao Paulo right now than it is here, yet it's late spring there. Is it more appropriate to wear knee high boots when it's 90 degrees but Fall, or when it's 65 degrees yet Spring? I may be that woman who packs way too much. Or I may look like that crazy tourist who had no idea she was going South of the Equator.

Finally this blog will have actual pictures taken in Brazil instead of borrowed from the web. I'm typing on my new MacBook Pro and can't to blog every day of our trip.

Until then, I'm going to try to enjoy these ordinary times; of homework in English, Aidan's American football game tonight, chicken and dumplings cooking on the stove and driving around with the windows down on this beautiful Fall day.

To me, these are timeless moments in a life that is about to become anything but ordinary.