There’s a lot of prepping going on around here, that’s for sure–ten days away from my departure and 17 days for the rest of the family. Sure, there’s the boxes that still need to be packed. And yes, the final pods have arrived, and we have started to load the rest of the furniture. But that’s not the prepping I’m talking about tonight.

Then there’s the emotional prepping. It’s hard to deny the reality of our departure at this point, and it’s getting hard not to be sad knowing that I won’t be seeing on a regular basis the people who have been a big part of my daily and weekly routines.

But I’m not going there tonight either. It’s still a little too soon, even though it’s only ten days away.

No, the “prep” I had in mind was far simpler. Tomorrow morning, at some ridiculously early hour, my wife will be getting up, getting in the shower, and heading into downtown Atlanta to run a road race with 60,000 other people.

I’ll be meeting her later in the morning, at the finish line, with all three kids.

I know that morning is not really her best time of day. So: remember that really fancy coffee maker we ended up getting a couple of months ago? Well, it has a timer that we pretty much never use. Tonight, though, I prepped the coffee maker and set the timer for 5am, so that when my wife comes downstairs after her shower, the coffee will be waiting for her.

Not a big deal, I know, but it will be a big help–and it will be appreciated.

So how does this little action simplify my life?

I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that question.