T minus 48

I realize that "T-minus" anything is a term probably lost on anyone who was born later than say....December 7, 1972 when NASA launched its last lunar mission with Apollo 17. In fact I have had to come to terms with the fact that several of the students going on this trip were not even born in the same century as the lunar launches. Yes, they are the true 2000-ers *gasp* millennials! But all that aside, one has to wonder if packing for the moon for 12 days was any more difficult than packing for Europe for the same amount of time...in a 20x17x9 carry-on and an airline-approved "personal item."

Eugene Ronald and Harrison all packed and ready to fly

I have this recurring nightmare where I wake up crying out, "Does everyone have their passport?!" And then the airline security people pull me out of line yelling, "You call yourself an English teacher? Everyone knows that everyone is a singular pronoun requiring a singular his or her to its antecedent...does everyone have his or her passport!!!! And then in a half-wake stupor I stutter, "But wouldn't a singular pronoun require a singular verb, has? Wouldn't it be everyone has? "Dummkopf!" they cry! (Dummkopf being a word I once heard on Hogan's Heros, another thing these kids are oblivious of...and why they should utter German pejoratives at DIA is beyond me). Would you say he does has!!??

At this point I give up and just tell them I'm a social studies teacher, which is a lie, but they buy it, smile, and send me packing. 

Speaking of packing, did I mention how hard it is to fit 11 days worth of fashion savvy outfits into a carry-on? 

 

 

 

Here we all are ready to fly...t-minus 48 and counting