Day 1 - The Flight Out

It has begun. I write to you from the Continental Airbus on the flight from Newark to Shanghai, with a mere 4 hours remaining in our flight. Meghan and I left the house at 3:30 AM to catch a 6 AM flight to Newark (out of IAH), after staying up packing until past 11 PM. As most of you know, there was an incredible number of things to pack for Cooper. How does the smallest person in the party warrant the largest bag (by far)? I am thankfully more myself at the moment, suddenly leaving behind some anxiety I felt earlier in the day, and remarkably not feeling the exhaustion I know is there under the surface, apparently masked by all the anticipation, curiosity, and excitement. Not only do I not know what to expect about raising a child, I don't know what to expect in China. My biggest international excursion to date was Canada. As for the exhaustion, it's amazing to me that I am not dead tired, after a two-day drive back from Colorado with Meghan (11 hours on the road each day) and my paltry sleep over the last 48 hours (4 hours each of the last two nights). Amazing what the mind can do to overrule the body.

To answer the several people who asked this, yes, we are flying over the pole to reach Shanghai. We're moving at 570 mph, with an outside temperature of -66 degrees F. Out the window, I was struck by how desolate the northern reaches of the continents are---for long stretches, there's not so much as a dirt road all the way to the horizon. The scene quells any concern I may have had about planet overpopulation and I decided that if aliens have landed on planet Earth in northern Canada or the Siberia, they would probably assume the place uninhabited.

As something I have never done before, packing for Cooper took me a long time. I sat in the floor with stacks of shirts, shorts, pants, socks and underwear laid out before me, holding my chin in my hand. Thanks to my two very generous showers, I have more than enough clothes for the 12-day trip. Unsure of his body size and uninterested in hauling every item halfway around the world, I elected to take mostly the 3T stuff, thinking that baggy clothes would be better than tight ones if I'm wrong. I threw in diapers and pull-ups and wipes and toys and books and food and medicine and voila!---my largest suitcase was completely full and, we discovered later, over the acceptable weight limit of 50 lbs. Meghan offered to carry the backpack inside so we could check the bag.

On a 14-hour flight, you wonder what you're going to do to pass the time. Sleep is the obvious choice, but again, that wasn't happening for me. As luck would have it, on this flight the entertainment system failed and could not be recovered despite many attempts by the crew (with assistance from technicians in Houston). So, no movies, no music, no games. Meghan and I are big readers, and I was glad we brought along books. By the way, how long is it going to take the airlines to install wireless Internet service? That would solve most of the boredom problem right there---at minimal cost.