Trust Birth Conference, Day 0
On Thursday March 6, I kissed my kids and my fabulous hubby, and headed out to catch my flight down south to attend the Trust Birth Conference.
Mixed emotions? You bet. I hate leaving the guys behind. And although I know they don’t really need me, it’s always weird to walk away. I try hard to keep two things in mind, when I have this sort of thing happen; first, I’m trying to make the world better for them. And second, it’s good for kids to see what passion about a cause looks like. Kids model what you do far more than what you say, and it’d be goofy to talk about making birth better without doing anything. So my boys, from their tiny ages, know that Mama may be leaving them, but she’s doing it to go help figure out how to help other mamas have their babies like we had Kestrel. And that’s something that Rowan both understands and supports. So while I miss them horribly, we all know why it’s happening.
I‘m also lucky enough to be married to the sort of man who not only gets it, but supports it, and has planned a fantastic visit up north with the Grandparents (hi Mom2!) to play in the snow and be loved and adored and generally have a great time not having a single thought about “Where’s Mama?” Thanks Jason; you really are amazing.
The flight was utterly uneventful. Flying midday on a commuter route is good stuff; we had a teeny, three-seats-across plane, and very experienced travelers, so boarding was super smooth, and everyone settled into their entertainment of choice really rapidly. I was working through a copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, which is intimidating, but excellent. Being more efficient and productive is gonna be neat. Once I close all my open loops, that is. Wheeeeeeee!
By a stroke of sheer luck, one of the conference assistants, Lennon, was able to come pick me up from LAX, so I ended up with personal curb-to-curb service. Fab! Thanks Lennon! And then up to my room, which I knew I’d be spending almost no time in, so I snapped a quick photo, just so I’d remember it.
Within 15 minutes of arriving, ICAN’s amazing Webmaster, Melissa Collins, was at my room. It is SO COOL to meet people in person, when you’ve been practically attached at the hip for months on end. We had just completed the initial phase of the redesign, revamp, and relaunch of ICAN’s website, which basically involved insane hours, all-nighters, and lightning-fast IMing fingers. So finally getting to kick back and hang out live and in person was just awesome, and worth the price of admission all by itself.
Right about the time my stomach started growling, Melissa pointed out the Cheesecake Factory across the street, so we headed out for a dinner/business meeting (who knew that Thai lettuce wraps could inspire so much creative geek thinking?). Two and a half hours and a very full tummy later, I got back to my room and passed out, knowing that that was the last solid sleep I was going to get for a few days. And I was so right…