You ever notice how, when you go on vacation, that there's this mad rush of activity before you actually leave your home? You're so frantic to get things packed, bills paid, pets taken care of, house cleaned, etc., that you almost want to just call the whole thing off. And if you have kids, it's all compounded by an order of magnitude.
That's how we are right now.
It doesn't make sense - reasonable people should be able to prepare ahead. But, it just doesn't work that way - not unless you have duplicates of everything you own. This is going to sound totally geeky but, we have a "travel list" that lists everything that we need to pack. It's been refined for many, many years and, if we follow it, we don't have to worry that we've forgotten anything. However, even with the list, you still need to wear clothes, you still need your toothbrush and shaving razor. Much cannot be packed until the night before and some, only just before you actually leave.
So, even with time-saving measures, you still end up running around like the proverbial headless chicken until you walk out the door.
Once you put your bags in the car, you stand there, at your door, silent for a while, mentally going over everything to make sure that you haven't forgotten anything. And, once you lock your door, get in the car and back out of the driveway, it's as if you've dropped a letter in the mailbox: there's no turning back. Heaven help you if you've forgotten anything because you're just going to have to deal with it - I'm not turning the car around. We'll buy a new one when we get there.
