Day 3 and Counting

I'm not sure why, but suddenly it seems like the week has gone in slow motion. It's like my brain has intentionally slowed the week down, so Friday seems eons away. At first I thought it was because I was dreading the trip, which I was last week, but then I realized something powerful:

I am slowing the moments down because I am savoring each moment leading up to the trip.

As a writer, I realize that I'm a reporter of sorts -- recording all things significant and keeping this as documentation so that one day my daughter and I can read all of this, and she can know how much I love her that I am willing to face my fears of traveling head on just to go get her.

Pictures don't necessarily say a thousand words. I've come to realize that, while pictures do capture wonderful moments in time, words capture feelings so much better.

The highlight of the day was getting my money and travelers' checks for the trip. One less thing to worry about. There were these lazy-ass tellers at the front desk who said they didn't know how to "do" travelers' checks, so they directed me to an overworked teller in the back, who helped me out splendidly -- except for the part where I asked for crisp 100 dollar bills. I explained that Chinese officials won't accept the bills if they aren't crisp enough, and she said, "Yeah, they're real picky about that."

To my horror, she gives me bills that have been crinkled AND folded!! I told her they weren't crisp enough. She said, "I know, but these are the best we have. We never get new bills anymore."

Ben Franklin would be appalled.

Now I'm going to be making phone calls to see if I can find a bank with crisp bills and trade them -- kinda like trading baseball cards or playing Go Fish. I can picture the conversation:

Me: Do you have a crisp $100?
The Bank: GO FISH!!

Anyway, I'm confident I'll find a bank that will oblige. I'm all packed and ready to go, and I hear Peter, Paul, and Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" as I finish some last-minute errands.

Beth L. Gainer is a professional writer and has published numerous academic and magazine articles, as well as an essay on her breast cancer experience in the anthology Voices of Breast Cancer by LaChance Publishing. She writes about medical advocacy at www.bethlgainer.blogspot.com, and her cat Hemi blogs at www.catterchatter.blogspot.com. Beth teaches writing and literature at Robert Morris University in the Chicago area. She can be contacted at bethlgainer@gmail.com and gainercallingtheshots@gmail.com.