LifeWise Summit

 

Last week I was gone for three days in conjunction with a work event. This was a stretching experience for me. I adore traveling, as you know, but I do not adore traveling apart from Ryan. It had been almost two years since we spent a night apart, and we could have tacked another fifteen years on top of that without being apart, and I’d have been just fine with it. I hold no judgment toward couples who enjoy time apart, but it’s just not for us.

          (So tired and crying in this goodbye picture....)

          But last Monday I traveled over to Ohio (left so so early in the morning) to attend a morning of planning with the team I’m on and then in the afternoon, we helped set up for the annual conference that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

            Because I work remotely, I have gotten to know my coworkers really well over email and virtual meetings, but there is a sweet additional component to meeting them in person. I think one of the things that felt like the biggest accomplishment of my trip was developing deeper friendships with my coworkers through the conversations that pop up when you’re in the same space.

            After our long day of planning and setup, a little handful of us went over to a coffee shop to take a break. I chose a buckeye frappe, because I was so hot from our day of hard work. It was delicious. I did NOT know at that time, that we were doing an ice cream run that night, or I might not have done the frappe. I didn’t let that stop me from getting ice cream. I just tried to keep the ice cream part small and simple. The ice cream run was at Graeter’s, and this was my first Graeter’s experience! I’ve heard people rave about it for years, but I’ve never had it. SO GOOD.

            I stayed in an Airbnb with two coworkers, and it was so cute. It turned out to be even cuter in person than it had been online (which is not always the case for rentals). It also reminded me of our Marion house. Bigger, but a similar layout and probably built around the same time, too. I was thankful my coworkers were kind and not snorers (ha!) because we all had to sleep in the same general area. I slept horribly the first night and was so exhausted by the second night that I just conked right out!

            The second two days of our trip were for the conference. My role was to be part of the hosting/serving staff, and I really enjoyed it. I was a greeter when people arrived, I helped with registration, I helped set up and guide people through the meals, and I peeked in on sessions, too. I enjoyed the chance to meet people including…Amy! Hi, Amy! She introduced herself to me and said she’s been reading the blog for a long time, so of course we had to get a picture together. (She gave me permission to post.)

(Attention, Mom: this was just a temporary tattoo. Ha!)

            In case you’ve never done it, planning meals for between five and six hundred people is not a small task. I actually didn’t help with the planning, but I helped put the food out and then gave directions to people as they went through the line. (Pizza police, I called myself one night.) Everyone was gracious, and all the food was so good.

At the end of the conference, we tore everything down, and then I made my way back to that coffee shop for a latte to get me home! (Photo was taken in park, in the parking lot. But I moved it swiftly into drive after that.)

SO GOOD to come home to my people. I missed them so.