Getting ready to get ready

In case you don't know (because someone not too long ago told me I should try and visit New Zealand while I'm in the DR...), the Dominican Republic is an island in the Caribbean. It is the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispañola, and Haiti is on the west third of the island. Here's a map from the CIA World Factbook that shows some reference points.

The first half (or so) of my training I'll be in Santo Domingo, the capital, and then in a community for training more along the lines of what my service experience will be.


Things are starting to pick up as far as making arrangements to vacate my life.

What do I do with my cat?
Is it better to ditch my stuff and start from scratch when I get home, or keep the stuff and deal with having to store it and haul it now?
How can I make my car set up to be stored in Washington?
Will the bank and credit card people give me a hard time about getting my power of attorney stuff on file?
What do I need to bring? What am I going to regret bringing, and regret NOT bringing?
How am I going to get everything done????

I've been making headway on getting rid of stuff from my apartment that I'm not debating about whether to keep or sell, and my place is getting seriously empty looking. It seems early to be fussing with all this now, and I'm going to have to live in the broken down apartment for almost two months still, so it's pretty crazy.

I just keep telling myself this is going to be worth it. I know it will be. Just in the meantime, I'm feeling overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed about going as much as about leaving. It's hard to pack up and take off.