Conferring

I love conferences. It must come from being a professor's daughter; after all, I've attended numberless conferences with my dad over the years on all different sorts of topics: rural education, world education, ELL education, education law, you name it. My family sees these as opportunities to vacation and educate all at the same time. Half the day I might spend with my dad or by myself, wandering to different sessions, enjoying the keynote session, and generally sitting back and soaking in knowledge, both esoteric and easily applicable. The other half we'd spend doing whatever the locale had to offer, be it boating on Navajo lake, exploring old town San Diego, or strolling through the museum at Rembrandthuis. Wherever symposiums or conferences are, I enjoy them and take advantage of them.

So, imagine my delight at and excitement for work today when I'd get to work in the midst of the Book Collecting Conference! Opportunities for learning completely new and original ideas aside, I love the bustle, the aticipation, the preparation. I love the feeling that something big is happening, and that we're all involved in it, no matter the size of our contribution. A big venture like this seems to encompass everyone in its preparation and enjoyment; in intangible things like a simple satisfaction in seeing things come off well, and of course and importantly in the more tangible types of rewards, such as delicious, giant muffins, fruit dip, and bagels with literally divine cream cheese. Ahh. It's days like this that make me so happy to work where I do, days like this with the air of a holiday. Days like this make me wonder even more than usual if I couldn't just keep doing this all my life...

We'll see.