The Conference That Wasn't

I have had a rather horrible two days.

No, I'm not in Atlanta. I missed my 5:50 a.m. flight this morning - I was sleeping...because I was up until all hours of the night last night. No conference for me this year.

We had a family medical emergency - and in the interest of keeping some of my personal life "personal" (hard to do in blogland!), let's just say that a close family member ended up in the emergency room last night - and I had no choice but to stay home.

Funny - the last few days, I kept having this niggling feeling that I wasn't going to Atlanta. I tried to ignore it when I got sick with my allergies or cold or whatever it is (and I'm still breathing through a half-open sinus right now and I have another headache). I also tried to ignore it when I myself had to make an urgent visit to my own doctor.

But last night's ER visit pretty much confirmed that I wasn't meant to go.

Strangely enough, I'm not devastated. Disappointed, yes. But I'm not tearing my hair out and screaming in frustration. Things happen. And that's just how life is.

I decided to still take these days off for my vacation - partly because I need to recover from the emotional trauma of the whole ER thing and partly because I need a break from work. My daughter and I went shopping tonight at the mall to get away for awhile and we had a great time. I'm also happy to report that the family member is hopefully on the mend - we should have some more answers soon.

I'm eager to read everyone's comments on Nationals - and I hope to make it next year!

But I now have an opportunity to get some great work done on my novel. Onward!