75% there!

I would say I'm about 75% packed! Have everything except what I will need to use or wear for the next 4 days in bags. The bags are fairly organized but have not been weighed. I have only a few more items arriving in the mail (hopefully tomorrow) and I have a couple things left to purchase. I need to get my eyebrows waxed, and a pedicure would be lovely! (Priorities people.) 

I'm at the point where I kind of don't care if I forget something. I'm just tired of making lists and checking them 5 million times. If it makes it to Uganda with me, great! If not, I won't die without it. 

I'm also ready to be out of what I have deemed the "twilight phase." The twilight phase is the part of moving or leaving somewhere and someone you love in which you are not leaving yet but you are already removed. The twilight phase doesn't always occur. If you leave on a whim there is no time for the twilight phase. If you are only visiting a place or people you love for a short time (I'm talking a few weeks) there may not be time for this phase either. If you are really, really good at being truly present at all times then I would imagine you are completely unfamiliar with this phase nor would you understand it. For the rest of us it goes something like this: 

You are no longer working but can't really pack yet because you need everything you would pack so you just sit around doing nothing watching HGTV all day because all of your friends are adults with jobs. (I'm out of breath after that run-on!)

Or you say goodbye to a friend and then run into her accidentally 5 more times around town. Or on purpose. Some goodbyes just need an extension. 

Then there is the "I have eaten SO MUCH FOOD but I'm leaving in 4 days and ice cream and Mexican food just aren't the same in Uganda. I'll take both please." Ever been tired of eating? I'm so over it. Done. With. Food. What am I saying?! I'm going to regret this in exactly 5 days. Wait for it. That post will be titled, "WHYYYYY?!?!?!" 

Get the picture? This my friends, is the twilight phase of leaving. Emotional blocks? Twilight phase. Mental blocks? Twilight phase. Oxygen blocks? Twilight phase. (That one is also just a normal side effect of leaving loved ones for extended periods of time.) I think you understand now. For me this phase is usually categorized by an inability to think clearly or process exactly what is about to happen. I don't think I'm the only one. 

Have you ever experienced this? Do you have your own name for it? I would love to hear your stories and see what you call this phase of leaving. Leave a comment below!