I leave for Dublin on Tuesday.
Not surprisingly, I’m losing my mind.
In the past, when I’ve gone abroad for a while, I’ve packed just one big suitcase to check & then end up having to buy another bag to come back with me. This year, I’m skipping that step. My checked luggage will include a big suitcase and a duffle (how else could I actually pack warm clothes?), but I will have some room for what I buy there, after taking all the supplements and eating all the grits that are coming with me.
In the midst of all the panicking and packing, I’ve been googling my future neighborhood. There’s a Nandos just a five-minute walk away, so I may not be able to lose weight this Winter.
My greatest challenge right now is that my insurance told the pharmacy that I couldn’t have a 90-day supply of my medications. I spent several hours on the phone the other day, resulting in a request for an emergency authorization. We’ll know tomorrow how that went.
If they don’t approve it, I will have to pay out of pocket for two months and then fight them for reimbursement when I get back. Without insurance, it will be over 700$ to take the meds I need.
This has been your reminder that American healthcare is mean and dumb.
Don’t tell anyone but I’ve spent a large portion of my day trying to figure out how to get good American bacon delivered to Dublin where there are rumors of an incredibly smart, terribly funny, sorta kind, primally passionate, dangerously curvy, stunningly beautiful and devastatingly eloquent lady word doctor who is showing up there soon to teach a bunch of hoodlums how to craft a decent run on sentence and woo a woman from afar.
Two bits of advice here:
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Just focus on being happy and healthy and having the time of your life over there.
2. Writing is great but if you really want to teach your students how to woo a woman show them how to mail her real American bacon. It’s not quite kosher but it works like a charm.