Notes from the Road

Just began day 4/4 of my work trip. Its been a mix of diligently attending sessions and taking copious notes, furiously working on my laptop, and lounging in the hotel room drinking wine and watching Gilmore Girls (Rory came home to Lorelai!) I got in a lot of walking and exploring the city which is good because its 28 degrees and heavily raining right now, so the walking is over. I got to meet a new blog friend for dinner---she was lovely and her children were adorable! And also had an awesome run and chat along the river with a BBF (best blog friend, of course) who happens to be here for a wedding.

I used to get major FOMO* at meetings, thinking that everyone else was hanging out without me** and feeling sort of lonely when I was on my own. These days? I am delighted to have time to catch up with myself! I look forward to the evening when the conference ends and I can work, or relax, go shopping, or wander aimlessly. I actually felt ambivalent at other meetings when I had plans that took up the whole evening and I didn't get to do this---while it was very fun to go out and socialize, and really really nice to be included, I also lament the loss of my precious precious "me time".

It is refreshing to have a break from caring for others. I am responsible only for myself. While I haven't gotten through my overly-ambitious plan for catching up on work (I underestimated how tired my brain would feel after 6-8 hours of sitting in sessions and taking said notes), I've made some good headway and feel much more on top of things. I've also had some time to reflect---more to come.

I started to really miss my family yesterday. G kept sending cute pictures and audio recordings of the boys that were melting my heart. Apparently they were uncharacteristically well behaved. We joked that one of should always go away, since they were also relatively angelic when G was gone last weekend.

I'm sure Monday morning will NOT be easy (I get in really late tonight) but I'm ready to be back in my real life.

*G had never heard of this term as of last week. I thought it was part of the standard current vocabulary. He spends plenty of time online. I was shocked. 
 
**On the plane I read Mindy Kaling's other book, which I actually liked better. I can't work on the plane, especially these tiny rickety regional ones. I'm too full of terror to do anything but read fluff and repeat under my breath "flying is safe. flying is safe. flying is safe."