Four days...

...until I head for Europe, and I'm so far from ready it's, well, pathetic.

I need to write two more articles, send an invoice or two, buy a few small clothing items and a new coffeepot, get a haircut, clean the apartment thoroughly, find my missing pet-sitter or find a substitute -- if the latter, I also need to have another set of door/mailbox keys made -- who can feed the cat while I'm gone, pick up dry-cleaning, pay a few bills, pack....

I also have to let someone with whom I'm not in regular contact -- not because I want it that way, I assure you -- know that I'll be gone, lest she decides to call and, after several days of listening to answering-machine messages, assumes that I'm trying to avoid her. That, I would never do.

Any reasonable person could do all this in, maybe, three days. Not me. I'll head for the airport knowing something didn't get done. I always do.

Oh, well.

Even the act of departure promises to be an adventure. A close friend and his girlfriend are leaving for Europe -- different airline, different destination -- at roughly the same time, so I offered to take them along. They are worse about being ready when it's time to leave than I am, and they will have enough luggage for five normal people. For me, who always is itchy about the whole process until I get into that business-class lounge and have fully entrusted my fate to the airline, this is torture.

And Monday is, of course, Illegal Alien Day (I know, that's not what they are calling it), the day when -- supposedly -- all the illegals won't show up for work in order to show the rest of us why they should be allowed to continue to mock our laws. That should make the airport a bigger mess than usual....

When I'm finally wheels-up Monday afternoon, I'll grab the nearest alcoholic beverage and a book -- that reminds me: I have to go to the bookstore, too! -- and settle in contentedly for the ride.

Well, almost contentedly. This trip won't solve any of the problems that bedevil me; it will only separate me from them for a few days.

If that's the best I can get right now, I'll take it.