As if hell hath frozen over...

Sometimes I'm just silly. I have this trip ritual that I fall into every time I have major travel coming up which involves assessing my closet and realizing that I have none of the "gear" I need to effectively take on my destination with confidence that I'm prepared for whatever mother nature or the activity gods might throw my way. Seriously, with as much as I have traveled, you'd think I would have the perfect travel purse, walking shoes, easily packable dress outfit and layers at the ready. While I do have some of the essentials that I've picked up over the years, I find myself once again (it's like clockwork), facing the reality that I have no appropriate footwear for this trip. Flip flops won't do (there are venomous snakes!) and I'm just not enough of a tennis shoe person to wear them every day, so I've been seeking out the perfect amphibious slip-on tenny. And then, in a moment of foot-zen the other night while I walked to the beach in my hand-me-down Uggs that are a full size too big, I decided, UGGS! Who wouldn't take sheepskin boots to one of the hottest places on the planet earth?! (Do you see how off-kilter my thought process is?)

But the fever had begun, and for the past 48 hours I have been obsessed with Uggs - convincing myself that as I will be there in the Autumn/winter portion of the KwaZulu Natal cycle, I might come up against some cold weather. And according to the guide books, there's no heating - so it can actually get uncomfortably chilly if you are not prepared. And as I ponder in the back of my mind living in a convent for two months, waking up super early and not being able to leave the living area at night on my own, I started to convince myself that the baby-soft comfort that Uggs might bring (Uggs that actually fit, mind you) could ease some of the unknowns swimming around my head by assuring that even if I'm sleeping with spiders the size of my fist, my feet will be living the good life.

And then, after purchasing said Uggs in a fit of shoppers frenzy as I realized once I started looking how hard they are to find in the exact color/height/size combo you would like (but there were three pairs left on Zappos!), I gently reminded myself YOU ARE GOING TO AFRICA TO HELP FEED BABIES WHO HAVE BEEN ORPHANED. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN STOP OBSESSING ABOUT SHOES. And thus the mental preparation begins.