I can tell I’m conference tired when I open my laptop and discover that I did not actually post the words I wrote on Friday evening. So here they are now, and I’m off to write today’s thought:
On the second day of LTUE I came home instead of going out to dinner. I chose that for the sake of my son, who had spent the day with us discovering that there is nothing about working a booth or walking a convention that makes him happy. I wish it did. I wish we could share this with him, but we’ll have to seek out something else to share. He’d been good and patient, trying new things during the day, so I brought him home.
My house is full of reminders of things to be done and tasks which have gone ignored for two days. I switch the loads in the laundry machines. I pick up valentine candy detritus. The kids seem content to have me home, but they do not have the desperation which they used to show after I’d been gone all day. As I breathe the home air I realize that it is good for me to be here. I need to wind down. I need to make sure there are clean clothes to wear tomorrow. I need to spool out the thoughts in my brain and ponder the patterns that I’m seeing in LTUE and the people who attend. I remember when we were the strange newcomers to this long running symposium, Howard in his t-shirts and me shadowing him. In a hundred ways our experience here is smooth and happy because we know most of the organizers and they know us. LTUE really is a beautiful creation and I’m so glad to have a place in it.
Tomorrow I’ll be bringing Kiki to the show. She will fill a space at the table and love being there. She too is beginning to be a separate part of LTUE. More than one person comes to our table specifically to admire Kiki’s artwork. Having Kiki at the table more means that I will be at the table less. This is fine. My best convention moments are because of conversations and those happen almost anywhere.