Kansas City, Baby!

I have printed our boarding passes.

I have packed the suitcase.

We are ready to go.

Tomorrow ARG and I set off for a grand adventure in Kansas City, MO! Did you think Kansas City was in Kansas? So did I. You learn something new everyday.

ARG will be brandishing his trusty sabre at the North America Cup in the Youth 14 and Cadet (16 and under) events. As I have mentioned before, fencing is really wierd. One can never predict the outcome of a tournament. The range of possibilities is pretty darn wide, due to the many variables that go into the fencing equation:
- referee (how does THIS one call things? how fast can ARG adapt to the ref's style?)
- who is in ARG's pool (points from the pools determine who you will fence in DEs)
- an OFF day, or an ON day - it can go either way for an athlete
- who ARG faces in the DE's
It's a crap shoot. Sometimes you get easy people for the first few DE's. Sometimes you get the gold medal winner in your first one. You just never know.

He could literally place anywhere from the top 8, to .... somewhere around 90th. It is most likely that he will place in the top 64. Hopefully the top 32. Excitingly the top 16. Ecstatically, jumping up and down, screaming "Hooray!" for the top 8.

I always get a little nervous before I travel. I am weird and neurotic that way. It would be so nice if I could just cruise onto a plane and enjoy the free time to sit and read or watch a movie. But no, I worry and fret. I pray over the plane. I ask my friends to pray. I prepare for death.

You can imagine that saying goodbye to hubby and girls is a bit traumatic for me, as I always imagine the possibility of never seeing them again.

But after 41 years of flying, experience has shown me that I usually never die. And I almost always have a great time wherever I am going.

So, I'm counting on that. Maybe I'll have a life changing steak. Who knows?