It’s finally here, the first day of our trip. I am still struggling to grasp the enormity of the flight I am on right now. The past six weeks since I officially stopped working have been filled with one to-do list after another, which has left very little time for reflection. In the past week, Stacie and I have said countless times, “I just want to go so I don’t have to look at another to-do list”.

The waiting is over. We are on United Flight 3704 headed to Chicago. After a connecting flight to St. Louis we will pick up a rental car and drive 3+ hours to Springfield, Mo, where Stacie was born, to see her father.

The day started at 4:30 AM with another short to-do list of final house preparations before a 5:30 departure for the airport. We said tear filled goodbye’s to Wrigley (golden retriever), Stephano (Lea’s bunny) and most painfully, to Grandma Carrie (Stacie’s mom). Pulling away from our house for the last time for 10 months, was a little surreal, but to be honest was not extremely emotional for me. The best I can describe my emotions was relief, to finally be on the road.

Once through security we had one final item on our to-do list, place our first sticker. Our good friends Abby and Andrew came up with a great idea to give us a set of 75 stickers to take with us around the world. When we felt particularly moved we would place a sticker as a “tag”. Given that this was the first airport of many, we decided it would be the perfect place for sticker #1. The challenge was finding a place where it would not be quickly removed by the airport cleaning crew.

Peter and I went on a hunt for the perfect place, and we think we found a good one. If you find yourself in the Boise Airport see if you can find it and if you do, take a picture and send it to us at 4gomberts@gmail.com.

Here we go…..74 more stickers to place!