I thought I knew, but it took me a while to not only articulate it, but also be perfectly fine with what I articulated. I finally got to a point where I could exhale and go, "Yeah. Ok. That's my final answer."
The truth of the matter is that while I appreciate learning about all things Ds, I can only handle so much. Our first experience, in Sacramento in 2009, was highly academic. It was planned. It was all, "Alright, BD, I'm going to learn about speech from 0-2 and you can take Playette with you to listen to the talk about PT since I'm sure they'll be some key points addressed there that we'll need. Oh! Don't forget the new mom's talk. I need to be at that one. Are you going to the talk for new dads or the one for African-American parents? One of us needs to go, don't you think? I guess at some point we'll need to eat before the plenary session. But then when are we going to have time to walk around the booths?!"
Seriously. It was a lot like that.
Then, last summer, in Orlando, I caught myself slacking off...and being totally ok with it. I was drawn to watching documentaries and listening more to people's experiences than what the experts had to say. I think BD went to a whopping 2 sessions and one of those was to hear a friend speak.
There's something to be said for being surrounded by peeps.
And that's what keeps me going back.
That is why we'll be in San Antonio during the low tourist season otherwise known as OMG it's August in Texas.
It's because other people will get us without even trying.
Yes, it's a lot of money. Yes, it's effort to travel. Everyone can't do that every year. And, honestly, it probably is far from necessary. But...I can't resist the urge for normalcy. Fitting in feels good.
This world can be lonely. Especially when you're moving around every couple of years. It's nice to have something to look forward to.
Speaking of, I'm going to a Mom's Night Out tonight with the local Ds group. They better be nice to me, dammit. It's in the rules.
Posts
4 comments:
This is exactly what the conventions are all about to me too! I can't wait to be with my family again either!!! Have fun tonight! Can't wait to read the post!
me too! Also, I a glad you are going to an MNO tonight. That (and church stuff) are what have helped me more than anything moving to a new place.
I'm impressed that you already have mom-dates! 'Cause you JUST unpacked, right? So that's less than a month in? It's taken me YEARS to get to mom-date-level. Hats off.
I always thought of DS conferences like family reunions.
Post a Comment