By this time tomorrow I will have already given a hello hug to the lovely ‘Stee and will probably be insisting that she open the package of coconut-y chocolate I am bringing her. It feels terribly luxurious and intemperate to have accepted her wonderful birthday gift of a plane ticket to New York; I am filled with glee and guilt at the same time and have a vague feeling that I ought to be looking over my shoulder to make sure no one catches me stepping away from my computer. The miasma of work still swirls around me; I have been taking a preliminary look at my tax documents and the whole complicated mess of figures we will have to consider and properly account for (two different state tax forms and two different working situations for both Ross and me, plus the whole freelance hoohah) is just dreadful.

Dreadful and not to be contemplated for at least the next six days!

Now it is up to the weather, the Chicago Transit Authority, the airport, and Jet Blue to make sure nothing goes wrong tomorrow when I leave. Ha.