Tensions are starting to run high in the house. Currently all of us have a shorter fuse than normal and have snapped at each other at some point this week. I think that it is finally starting to occur to us that we are leaving behind life as we know it.

Q, who is normally not super conscientious about his school work, started to express concern about falling behind in Algebra while we are on the trip. He's also binging on xBox like it is his last meal. Amelia is upset with me for the fact that she will be missing the 5th grade picture, which hangs in the halls for decades to come. She keeps asking me to postpone the trip until summer so that she doesn't have to miss school. Jeff has been working like a mad man to tie up loose ends at his job.

This morning I was particularly impatient with Amelia and as I was about to come down on her for her "tone" with me, Jeff reminded me: You are about to rock her world.

Needless to say, I am asking a lot of my husband and kids right now. I even went so far as to schedule all of our travel vaccines on Valentines day - who inoculates their kids for Typhoid on Valentines? Really.

I feel an enormous pressure building on top of me. Whether it is the people that I love that need me here now or the fact that I am putting my job search on hold, I am not sure. Regardless, I hope that I am doing the right thing for my family.