WACA Conference

Last week, I spent three glorious days in Yakima at a conference.  Granted, Yakima was not so  glorious.  Driving over the pass was gross with snow, it was freezing in Yakima, and there wasn't a whole lot to do in the town, other than the attendance the conference.

  The conference was the glorious piece.  Three days to focus my energy and thoughts on my job and how to be a  better leadership teacher.  Three days to sit with co-workers and share ideas and philosophical theories.  Three days to sit in seminars, listen to keynote speakers, and maybe I  caught up on my emails, and took an afternoon to myself and napped learned something new.

There was even a little shout out to my school at the American Heart Association at a booth!

Not only did I have the opportunity to focus on my job, I had the opportunity to spend time with family on Thursday night.

Dinner with this beautiful bride and her mom.

Alice and Karen drove over from Ellensburg to treat me to an amazing dinner.

It was a beautiful evening with a delicious meal and hours of conversation, sharing memory after memory of my dad.  It helped to remind me that talking about my dad doesn't necessarily mean I haven't moved forward and need to talk about him.  Instead, I was reminded that talking about Dad gives others permission to do so, and sometimes, they need permission to share their grief with us. 

 

With a lightened heart, I joined the rest of the crew for the social and danced the night away with this lovely lady - Tammy.

She's my friend, a leadership teacher, and our summer leadership camp director.

And I adore her.

 

One week remains in March.  It has been a long haul but the time has flown by and it looks like we survived another one. 

The first week of April brings a spirit week (note to self: move the spirit week to late April!), the homecoming of my in-laws, and counting down the days to a vacation.

Vegas.

Oh, how I need thee!