A list for my shrink, as I pack for my trip to Argentina

1. I'm really going to miss my kids.
2. I feel really really really guilty about leaving.
3. If I were on a humanitarian mission to save starving kids in Haiti, I wouldn't feel quite so guilty.  This feels indulgent in a parent-brain-talking kind of way (meaning: Amy, you're so impractical.).
4. My three-year-old son's manipulation works: today he said to me, "Mommy, I promise that I want you to stay."  I was only heading out for two hours. 
5. I worry about my kids': safety, happiness, health, routine; yes, they will be with their loving father, grandparents, and adopto-nana. 
6.  I am a control freak.
7. I'm really going to miss my husband.  He makes everything better, funnier, calmer.
8. I'm never going to finish the reading (100 pages to go in Roy's book; 40 on the frontispiece for my workbook).
9. The good news is: I'm on every pharmaceutical in my medicine cabinet, so I will only catch Ebola at this point.
10. Ebola
11. Will my new platform pumps send me skidding into the ER after my one-and-only tango lesson?
12. How many shoes should I take?  Yes, I really do worry about this.
13. How many bags should I pack?  Should I check any?
14. My hair + rain=Jewfro.  Should I attempt the straightening iron again?  Oh, the humanity.
15. My iPhone had better work.
16. Skype had better work.
17. I better work and stop fretting.
18. And enjoy the adventure.
19. And the intellectual stimuli.
20. And write.