I’m Inspired

Well, the workshop in DC went well. They usually do. Actually, thinking back, they always do. I get quite nervous beforehand, especially the last day or two before I actually give one. Workshops are a crapshoot in terms of time. Timelines vary greatly depending on the size of the group who attend. Because I don’t just lecture for six hours, I have to guesstimate how much time each component will take. And being a German-heritage librarian (see remarks about OCD that follow), I can’t estimate most things worth @#&. And while people—especially librarians (who became librarians because of varying degrees of OCD)—like structure, they also come to conferences to network, and often don’t have much time to do that outside the sessions they’ve signed up for. Add to that the fact that at the end of six hours of concentration, most in the group are pretty much brain-dead and just would like to sit and kibbitz, or go home, or go out for a drink. Or several.

So I try to plan and yet flex. This is the part that makes me nervous. I’m no longer terrified of being in front of groups of peers—who are usually the harshest critics of one of their own. But I don’t want my workshops to look haphazard or unplanned. At the same time, I can’t be a controlfreak and keep everything to the minute. See what I mean about being nervous? I'm not really scared. I just want it to go well.

And it did. My biggest mistake was my shoes. My feet hurt so much (the four blisters were not a laughable situation!) after a day of nothing but standing and walking around a “classroom” that I couldn’t go sightseeing at all. At all! My hotel--the Washington Hilton--was a good 4 blocks from the Metro and way too far from the Mall to walk there. And Washington is one of my favoritest places to be Tammi Tourist. RATS!

But I am inspired. The people at the workshop were all younger than I am (I’m pretty sure). And they all thought that graduate education for librarians should definitely include something like what I was giving them. So I’m in the process of revising my brochure and preparing to send it to every library school in the country to see if any is interested in having me for a day. We shall see!

Positive Strokes

It’s amazing what a compliment will do. I’m working on my workshop that I’ll conduct in Washington, DC, on May 22. I knew I had materials from a different workshop that I could rework for this one; I just had to remember which previous one it was! Okay, it was the one I did at Rosemont College in Philadelphia, and it had been hugely successful. So I had a little bitty high from remembering how positive the feedback was from that one and I got an e-mail labeled “Workshop.” When I opened it, it was a request from the program chair for the organization that had brought me to Rosemont! They’re interested in a “Part Deux.” Apparently the people who had attended my earlier workshop had reported as positively to their organization as they had to me, and they’re interested in having me again.

My frame of mind is now about 1000% more positive than it had been on Sunday. And it wasn’t that bad on Sunday! The fact that I’m working on a workshop feels really good. My sister will say that I need to get out there and beat the bushes again to get more business, but I’m really not interested in doing that. I kind of like this 1-2/year thing! If I were doing 1/month, like I did for awhile, I’d have to really stay on top of I.T. Then it would be too much like work. And I am, how you say, RETIRED. I actually contacted a woman I know who taught public speaking and had run her own company for “corporate training” to see if I could work occasionally/sporadically for her. Unfortunately she has just retired, herself! And she said it was too bad I hadn’t contacted her earlier because I would have been perfect. In my younger daughter’s perfect sing-song: Oh well.

Meanwhile, add those positive strokes to the endorphins I’m earning because I’m going to the gym more and working harder while I’m there and I’m in a good place right now! (And the fact that I’ll earn some $$ and get reimbursed for my travel for next week’s work is okay too! :D )

Catching Up

I really wanted to use this frequently but then along came Facebook and I get by on pithy sentences (and many, many not so pithy). So I’ll get a little caught up here before I wander away again.

My Mimi-sitting gig in Cleveland was terrific. (I did get some sort of stomach bug that made me SO sick that it almost overshadows the really good memories from that. No more about that!) Kaitlyn and Courtney are just beautiful. I’m as in awe of them as I was of Emily & Jenny at those ages. It surprises me how much I can love these little girls, again echoing how surprised I was about that capability with my own two beauties.

When I came in the house, Katie immediately gave me the “Vanna White tour.” I realize that 3-yr-olds talk constantly, but this was really amazing. The highlight was her tour of the guest lavatory, with its “toe-let” and accompanying “toe-let paper.” I was shown where the handle for flushing was and how to wash my hands. And in her and Courtney’s rooms, I had to see how the closet doors worked. And my camera was packed in my suitcase and not handy in my purse. Rats. A real opportunity missed.

But while Emily & Pete were away and I was the Mimi, the three of us went for walks and went to the park (I knew where it was because Emily & I had gone there before they left),

looked at flowers and threw stones off bridges into the creek that runs behind the house. Spring in Cleveland was all that I’d forgotten about spring in Iowa: so many things can flower simultaneously, it was truly beautiful.

The girls at the park were so much fun. Tiring but fun. Pushing on swings, climbing up and then sliding down slides. Playing in the big sandbox. And Katie’s propensity for finding 7-9-yr.-old kids and asking them, “Will you be my friend?” They then help push on swings and slide down slides. Those kids were so … wholesome, such good kids.

Meals were a challenge for me to follow the rules of the house. It was the timing more than anything that I tried to be conscious of. I was just really getting the hang of it, I think, when Emily & Pete came home … and I was really glad they were home. I was tired! I realized again why people my age don’t have babies!

The drive was easy, and good for me. I needed to get out into city traffic again to reassure myself that I could do that. Living in my isolated little part of the world, I lose my confidence in managing the big parts of the world. Busy cities are exciting for me, and I’m glad to know that I’m not that overwhelmed by them!

I’m probably willing to Mimi-sit again, but I’m not sure if I can do it with a baby again. Just carrying one of those infant carseats will kill me! But the joy from the kids? Priceless.

(BTW, here are my granddaughters sane and normal parents.)