You complain, and then you get something.

After a wonderful, if short, visit home to Utah Max and I packed what was left of our stuff in the few suitcases we have held on to (and one from my Mom's closet - sorry Mom) and caught our afternoon flight out of Salt Lake yesterday.  We had a short layover in Chicago, but flying across country this time instead of across oceans felt like a breeze.  On the way into DC we flew over the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the rest of The Mall.  To see them for the first time all lit up at night as we flew over the Potomac was really a site.  I felt like my little brother's dog Milo when it gets excited about something.

"Do you know how many books are in the Library of Congress? " pawing Max's arm
"What about the Smithsonian?  Do you know what their current exhibits are? " paw, paw
"How far is our apartment from _______, what about from _____? "yip, yip"


All was well until we realized that our neon green bag was missing.  When it's neon green you notice right away.  I have an informal travel rule to always carry toiletries and clothes for at least 24 hours after landing so that in the event of a lost bag, or three if you remember landing in Tel Aviv last year, we won't be forced to wear the sweaty clothes of sweaty airports.  But I think I was so jazzed about only going 2000 miles instead of many thousands of miles that I forgot my head and packed silly things in carry-on, like straw hats and hair straighteners.

So we spent most of the first day in Washington DC sans toothbrush, but if that's the biggest of your worries you are really doing ok.  The airline gave us a bit of a run around getting our bag back, but in the end we got our bag as well as a $150 voucher that my diplomat husband talked us into for our troubles.  He's nice.

So we have arrived, our apartment is perfect, and Max has his first day of training tomorrow.  Things are good.