My first goodbye

I am sitting in the Denver airport right now, waiting for my flight to Washington, D.C.  I am going there for GLOBE (one of my jobs at work) to attend a NASA meeting.  I will be gone for pretty much exactly three days (nearly to the minute, if my flights are on time!).  While I knew it would be hard for me to leave Evan for my first time, I don't think I quite fully understood it.

I am not a person who likes goodbyes, and sometimes I can dwell on them too much making them much worse than they probably really are.  Today was no exception.  A three-day trip away seems very minimal, but yet I couldn't stop staring at my cute baby's face as we drove to the airport.  We played peek-a-boo and he stuck his tongue out at me (which I did back--one of his new tricks that is oh so cute!).  He laughed, he smiled, and then when I realized I wouldn't get to see or do any of those things for the next few days the tears welled up in my eyes.

Not to mention, I have worries about how I'll do pumping while I'm gone and if I brought enough supplies to be able to store and bring my milk back home without it spoiling.  I packed several things of blue ice packs, a couple soft-sided cool bags, milk storage bags and some of my milk storage bottles.  I even brought some ziploc baggies in case I need to fill them with ice (which I can hopefully find somewhere at an airport or hotel) in case my fridge in my room doesn't have a freezer compartment.  Yet, I still am nervous that something won't work or that I forgot something.  For example, my bag gets lost and thus my pump (checked in said bag) is not available.  For that I packed my hand pump in my carry-on backpack, but it only has one bottle and no cooling bag, so it's definitely just for emergencies.

Anyway, milk logistics aside, it's more the emotional aspect of being away on this trip that's got me choked up right now.  I guess I just need to distract myself with something else so that I can get over this hump of the goodbye and not dwell on it so much.  I know Evan's not dwelling on it, as he was falling asleep for his afternoon nap as I said goodbye to him.  I just hope he doesn't realize it's a whole three days that have passed before he sees me again.  Do babies know how to tell time? :O