Day Three of the National Charter Schools Conference in Chicago, IL, begins early at 6:30 am. With a breakfast of burritos and fruit we get started greeting folks at 7:30 am in the exhibit hall. I was already anticipating my busy afternoon of closing down the booth at 3:30 pm, getting the display shipped off and packed properly, hitting the cab to the subway, and the subway to the airport. With my plane taking off at 6:25 pm and it being an hour away from my hotel, I was sweating it!
The day was a busy blur of passersby asking for a trinket to take home to their child, grandchildren, or as one lady put it, "oh, my dog will love this frisbee". Although not exactly what you want to spend your marketing dollars on, I kindly obliged with a smile and a quick run through of our 30 second elevator speech about our services. Making a few more connections from the virtual charter school world, I watched the clock as it quickly approached 3:30 pm. I had my booth packaged up and ready to go within 30 minutes. As I hurried up the breezeway making my trek to the hotel entrance and my awaiting cab, I saw an angel.
Yes, that's right. I saw an angel jogging towards me trying to flag me down. At closer glance it was "Bob" from a neighboring booth with my Blackberry in his hand. He asked me if I had forgotten anything! Shew! What a relief. For anyone who's ever almost left, lost, or has left or lost their blackberry can really relate to my deeming him an "angel". With a quick thank you I was soon off in a cab on my way to the "Blue Line".
Not an experienced traveler, riding a subway would be a brand new experience for me. Hurrying through to buy my ticket I made sure to have correct change this time. Waiting on the train, it was hot, humid, and smelly. The train ride was uneventful and arriving at the airport with 45 minutes to spare, I felt a sigh of relief. Grabbing a pretzel from Auntie Anne's for a quick dinner I was looking forward to getting home.
Connecting in Charlotte, I enjoyed a few relaxing moments of "people watching" and was soon headed home to the small town of Montgomery, AL. Driving home around 10:30 pm, I thought back over my trip to the big city of Chicago, IL. I laughed out loud at the irony of my ideals of how my trip to Chicago would go and the reality of how things played out. Adding insult to injury I remembered the A-list of keynote speakers including Bill Gates, none of which I had the pleasure to hear speak.
Arriving home safe and sound I thought back to my childhood dreams of living large in the big city and realized that I am truly a small town girl at heart. Conference going can teach you that kind of thing, you know.
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