Turtling

My trip officially begins tomorrow morning. I'll take the train to Newark to meet the group of teachers who will be flying in from all over the country. From there we will spend three nights at The Stony Point Center in New York for orientation.

Today I decided to do most of my packing. All of this stuff is on the packing list, except for one furry thing:

I managed to pack it all in my suitcase and snazzy new backpack (NOTE: this includes 3 pints of maple syrup which will be gifts for people I meet over there. NOTE #2: I can't wait to give away my gifts. Syrup isn't light.):

Now, however, I'm thinking that I should go through and take out a few pieces of clothing. Since I'm "turtling," or carrying all my stuff around with me for the next 5 weeks, it seems like I might be just as happy with a little less.

Anyway, as demonstrated by the fact that I've packed about 20 hours before I need to leave, I can't wait!

But I am very, very sad to be saying goodbye to this special friend for the next month: