Four weeks from now, I will be on an adventure. First off, in the morning I present the research I have been doing for two years to the Administrative and Leadership division of the American Educational Research Association. True to form, the background material, theoretical framework and research methods are solid. The data are all in and mostly coded -- and yet I am unsure exactly what findings I will report. But by noon of that same day, I can remove my tie and begin making the transition for an outdoor trek. Part writing retreat, part desert expedition, the subsequent several days will be about as different as the preceding days as almost anything I could imagine.
The entire trip involves ten days from home. All the tickets are purchased (but need to be printed out and compiled), lodging arrangements have been made, and an initial directory of drinking establishments have been mapped. What is puzzling to me is what to include in the large suitcase. The first four days, I’ll need to look presentable to fellow academics: nice shirts, pretty ties, maybe a jacket, shiny shoes. The balance of the trip would surely ruin these. Instead, I’m envisioning t-shirts for daytime, denim shirts for night, and a pair of trail shoes that may give up their tread due to the abuse I plan to give them.For the first few days of the trip, I could spend daylight hours almost entirely under artificial lighting. The following segment of the travel will be the opposite.
Ten days is a long time and comes with the need to haul my belongings. Digging through cosmetic supplies under the bathroom sink, I am cautious about packing every single thing I may need
. I need to make choices. For example, I have a sizable bottle of sunburn gel. It’s blue-green, thick gel (because of the aloe), smells fruity, and is always cold. It’s the perfect antidote for burned skin. Or I could bring a supply of high-SPF lotions that would effectively preserve my winter skin tone. I do not need both because the availability of one eliminates the need for the other. It’s a choice: one preventative and the other curative.How do parents deal with this when hauling around 2 or more kids? I don’t expect one can really anticipate preventing every problem (rain, dirt, hunger, cold, boredom, exhaustion). But on the other hand, one probably ought to pack expecting problems (extra diaper, spare shirt, small book, a chew toy). What criteria do you parents use when choosing between a bottle of formula versus a juice box? Thinking about my conference responsibilities, I probably should post my presentations to an online resource in case my laptop goes out or goes bye-bye. And even though I’ll use Keynote, I need to have a version in PowerPoint and QuickTime. Also, a thumb drive and a power cord. More broadly, how should we go about packing for life? For a long time, I have accepted that there is only so much I can prepare for in advance. Others operate with the fear that the unanticipated might occur. (You can either sense the tension this creates or bear witness to it.) Blue cooling gel or opaque white lotion? I might could (a southernism I picked up from Peaches) take both of them. But where’s the adventure in that? Local liquor or flask from home? Okay, that's not choosing: that is simply being smart and prepared.
