Logistics

I am fortifying myself for a day of logistics. It has already begun and I need a break.

First there were the logistics of finding out Spirit Air’s baggage requirements and charges before Vic and I fly to Florida on Thursday for my annual staff retreat. Spirit does not make it easy. Note to self: Never fly Spirit again. They make you pay for everything, even carry-on bags, even advance seat assignments.

Oh well. I will check a bag and carry maple syrup to my colleagues, which some of them will not be able to carry back home because they’re not checking bags. Carolyn promises to mail the orphan bottles of sweetness that wouldn’t pass security. This makes no sense. Why don’t I just mail them to everybody’s home? But some will be able to take them and I don’t know who. And I can’t envision getting together the necessary boxes and bubble wrap and addresses just now because the other thing I’m doing  today is applying for visas for Congo.

You’d think, after expressing my intention to resign logistics, I wouldn’t volunteer to handle all the money and bureaucracy transactions for our three-women trip to Congo in May. But I did. I was so eager I forgot my limitations.

I researched and bought tickets, negotiating for the best price and schedule, and today I will be sending in the visa applications. The invitation letters, notarized in DRC, are printed out. My friends have sent me their passports, vaccination certificates, pictures, and applications. I need to put my own together today, pick up my own photos, and take everything to the post office--and don’t forget the postage paid return Express Mail envelope. I’ve only had to call the DRC embassy once to clarify the requirements.

On the inflow side, I’m receiving and recording supporting contributions and reimbursements. I asked Vic to create a spreadsheet. The promised contributions now match the expected costs. Our trip is paid for!

The spreadsheet is my only consolation in all this. While schedules and other arrangements give me a headache, I sometimes find numbers comforting. Once upon a time I rather enjoyed making organization budgets though now I happily leave that to others. Ooops. Please don’t tell my husband I like budgeting. Well, I guess he’ll read this.

Perhaps it is the serene certainty of numbers that comforts me. Plus you can move numbers around, make them come out differently. You can see balance and unbalance and correct it. You know what you have to do.

But right now, before I continue with the visa applications, I need another cup of tea.