If I'm going to tell the story of the road trip to Seattle, I really have to start with Thursday

(To be honest, ever since I found out they were moving, before the birthday, I wanted to be there. It just didn't seem like the most responsible thing for me to do during a busy work month.)

It started when I was at the post office, standing in line to mail her birthday package. (Did it get there yet? It should have been there Saturday, but it wasn't. It seems to be lost.) I thought I'd better double check the address, just to be sure, so I called my brother. He sounded sorta homesick, like he was missing his mom and dad and siblings, and it just got to me. (Possibly, this was more me than him. Can't say for sure. Doesn't matter.) At that point, I mailed the package and called mom to suggest they might want to be sure they were on Skype that night (which they were). I knew I had a lot of work to do, and it wasn't at all practical to even think about taking off for the long holiday weekend. Not at all. So I returned to work, and attempted to put the idea out of my mind.

To further put the idea to rest, I distracted myself by taking my new shoes (and leggings) out on the town:

These shoes are actually incredibly comfortable (Vera Wang via Kohl's), and the leggings, despite being something I'd normally place in the they-really-shouldn't-make-them-in-size-16 category, seemed to flatter my figure. The top I wore covered my derriere, so I felt pretty good stepping out.

My usual Thursday knitting plans had been preempted, so instead, I joined up with the Fab Fibers crowd for afters. Our resident Roller Derby gal - Molly Stormin' - was meeting us at Sammy's, and I especially wanted to show off the shoes to her. Make her a little jealous. Because I wish I was doing Roller Derby, and I'm not. Also, they seemed like her kind of shoe. (They are.)

Hanging out at Sammy's seemed to do the job, because I didn't think about Seattle, not really.

It was the next morning that got me.