Biz Trip, New Friendship, and a Potato Chip

This post will have nothing to do with a potato chip in any way, shape or form.  It just rhymed with the other things and I was in a rhyming sort of mood.  Mostly because I'm in a good mood but really because I've had too much coffee in an attempt to hammer out all of my work before heading off to Orlando, FL for a conference.  The problem with currently drinking too much coffee is it intensifies my already anxious feelings of leaving...

I always get a bit anxious before traveling.  I'm not afraid to fly or anything like that, I just get small butterflies that usually disappear once I take off.  This time will be different because I will be leaving my Baby Boy for THREE WHOLE DAYS!!  That will be hard for a couple of reasons.  First, there is the obvious... I will miss his sweet, chubby-cheek-face and his infectious smile and adorable giggle, and his big brown eyes, and his wiggly toes, and the way he snuggles with me when he is exhausted, and the way toddles side to side as he walks around, and his temper tantrums.  Well... maybe I won't miss EVERYTHING!  The second reason it will be hard to leave is knowing that my amazing husband is left behind to do all of the things that it usually takes the both of us to do.  I'm not at all worried that he will struggle with it, I just feel bad and I know how hard it will be.  Baby Boy is a precocious toddler that is also starting to throw some pretty crazy tantrums these days and I hope he takes it easy on the 'ole man while I'm away.  I will miss "my little-fussy butt" and my husband terribly but I am also looking forward to the conference because...

I HAVE A PEN PAL!!!!  Well she is actually an "email pal" and we have been corresponding for quiet some time now.  We have never met face-to-face but we have talked on the phone several times and mostly banter back and forth over email.  I lead a National Marketing Roundtable group and we have conference calls to discuss our marketing efforts for our respective firms.  We have members from Montana, California, Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Colorado.  The Roundtable had to go on hiatus while I was on maternity leave and once I got back, my friend went on her maternity leave.  Once she rejoined the Roundtable I was eager to talk to her about anything other than marketing!

After one of our Roundtable calls I asked her to stay back on the line with me and I asked her all about her new role as a mama.  As a new mom myself I just loved to talk to other new mothers sharing stories and experiences, giving advice and asking for it too.  We quickly learned that we have so much in common....  I'm not talking about, "oh, we are both full-time working mom's!"  I'm talking about how we have SO much in common it is like we are leading parallel lives!  I mean, it is eerie how similar we are.  In fact, she was one of the first people I told about my blog and she responded right away letting me know she had just started one too! She lives in Chicago (or close enough to call it that) and I live in Denver.  We have known each other through the Roundtable for at least a year or more and we have been sharing our lives through email since January and we will both be at this conference in Orlando!!  I can't wait to meet her in person!  I'm down-right giddy about it!

I feel like Julia Child about to meet Avis Devoto for the first time.  Except I'm not six feet tall, I'm not a cooking genius, I don't live in France (but my "pen pal" and I will be eating at a French restaurant in Epcot), and I have no published books to speak of... but other than that, exactly the same!