by Pete Barba

We’re 6 weeks away from starting our amazing adventure!  In the Barba household, that means it’s crunch time.  We need to pack up the house because we are renting it.   It’s amazing how much crap you accumulate after living in a place for 8 years.  Each weekend we are boxing up our belongings to store in the garage, taking unused items to the hospice thrift store (please support Snowline Hospice, they provide a great service to our community), and making dump runs.  

As far as trip planning, the plans are coming together.  The first 3+ months are planned in detail, which is comforting.  The downside to that planning is that things are changing a lot with the world reopening to traveling.  Just yesterday, I had to rebook 2 flights I had arranged 6 months ago because a leg of each of those flights was changed and the suggested new legs were incompatible with our plans.  Minor headaches but it seems to consume too much time. (I thought computers were supposed to make our lives easier?!?!)

The rest of the trip plans are sketched out but not planned in such detail.  For 3-6 months out, we have most of our lodging and flights booked.  Most everything is refundable until the last minute, because the world seems to be changing fast.  Past 6 months from now, the plans are still flexible, but we have booked things we have deemed important.  Fancy flights booked with points, unique hotels (cliff hotel in Peru!), big tours we absolutely want to do, etc.  

At work, I am putting all my energy into one final project that I feel is crucial. With the chaos of COVID and turnover of staff, morale and burnout in healthcare nationwide is a brewing crisis.  My team and I are focused on improving teamwork, culture and processes in our offices.  We hope that this will deliver better care to our community, make staff feel appreciated and help clinicians who are feeling exhausted.

The other face of my work life is being spent saying goodbye to patients.  Most of my patients I have known for over a decade and they are like family.  Saying goodbye is incredibly hard. I know I will see them again in a year, but a year is a long time and a lot can happen.  While I try to keep a positive smile on my face, my heart is crying inside as I give my goodbye hugs.

For the kids, this is the start of camp week.  Gwyn is nervously excited to be heading to a 5 day Girl Scout camp with her besties.  She will be gone for 4 overnights, which as a dad is a little hard letting go.  Drew and his buddy Carlo are off to a week of water camp in Sacramento to learn kayaking, canoeing, water safety and sailing.  Drew’s camp isn’t overnight, so I’m less nervous, provided he remembers his sunscreen.

While Kate will enjoy the quiet around the house this week, she is the one furiously making sure everything is getting finished up for our year away: ordering, packing, trip details, errands, appointments. Thank God she is my wife, she perfectly balances my chaos.