Don’t miss me too much (but miss me a little)

I’m leaving on a business trip to Toronto tonight, so I’ll drop out of sight for a few days. I’ll be staying in a lovely bed & breakfast in downtown Toronto in a turn-of-the-century character home, so I don’t expect I’ll have internet access. Last year I stayed in a similar B&B on a business trip, and after that I’ve been determined to skip the boring corporate hotels as often as I can and find interesting B&B’s instead.

I like business trips, as long as they’re not too long (this one’s 3 nights – about the perfect length), I have a bit of free time wherever I’m going, and the destination is a reasonably interesting place. There’s always good and bad in every trip. Here’s what I’m looking forward to and not looking forward to on this particular trip:

Looking forward to:
- The plane rides. I like flying.
- People-watching in airport lobbies.
- Sleeping through the night (hopefully) without any kid interruptions. (I had to change sheets AGAIN last night.)
- Wandering.
- Seeing my friend Laurel. She’s one of my oldest (by that I mean longest, not that she’s old) friends and we have a whole lot of history together. We built teepees in the bush behind our house when we were kids, rode horses, went trick-or-treating on her Halloween birthday, went back-packing in the mountains together when we were all grown up, were roommates twice (in Banff and Winnipeg), and a whole lot in between. Then she moved out East and we haven’t seen each other much since.
- Getting to meet Karla. Yay!
- Going to a Famous People Players show (part of a staff retreat).
- Reading a book uninterrupted.
- Eating in restaurants.
- Some quiet space for just me. Rejuvenation.

Not looking forward to:
- Too many meetings.
- Two of them are full day meetings which I have to facilitate. Sometimes I enjoy that, but sometimes it feels like it’s too much responsibility. This is one of those times.
- My agenda’s too full. There’s not enough time for wandering and meeting people. (Sorry Dale – maybe another time.)
- Being “the boss”. One of the meetings is an annual staff retreat with all of my national staff. Sometimes that feels too heavy for me.
- One particular discussion that has to happen but I know in advance that nobody will agree on it. Blech.
- I’ve been sick for the last 4 days and I’m still coughing and feeling like my head might explode. Flying might not be so much fun after all.
- I’m tired. I hate starting trips already tired. But Maddie has been even more sick than me and consequently, I’ve had rotten nights for about a week now.
- Missing my family. Maddie has been rather cuddly since starting daycare, and I know she’ll miss me more than usual since she’s still adjusting to the change.

Bye for now!