Back from New York

Have you all missed me?... even just a little?

I got back last night at 11pm from the conference in New York City. In case anyone cares it was on "Pain and Chemical Dependency" and was 3 FULL days of lectures. It was international so we heard speakers from all over the world. Pain is a problem everywhere but let me tell you folks... living in the USA... it does not get any better than this!!! The horror stories I heard....!! Overall it was very good and I feel like taking on the world again at work. Just knowing that there are 1000's of others who deal with the exact same issues in chronic pain that I do, helps.

Have you ever been to New York City before? That was a first for me. The hotel I stayed in was right in downtown Manhattan... I walked past some of the Broadway theatres, David Letterman's studio, saw the CBS studio, Rockefeller Plaza... you get the picture. As I walked in the evenings I had to wonder about the chaos that obviously occurred on September 11, 2001. The streets already seemed "chaotic" and FULL... I can't imagine adding a tragedy of that magnitude to this city. I wondered several times where the towers stood in relation to where I was. I know you can go and see the place... but I just didn't feel like experiencing that all by myself. I know, kind of weird. I just think it would feel very emotional and I didn't want to be bawling out there on some street corner! I came into the city around 1 am (thanks to an unexpected 6 hour delay in Cincinnati) and it was obviously was all lit up with lights...you couldn't make out specific buildings from a distance. While taking the taxi out of the city yesterday afternoon I wondered again exactly where the towers stood. They really defined the skyline for New York. Nothing really "defines" the city now. I thought about asking the taxi driver but quickly realized that he probably was 100% Muslim as he was very middle-eastern with a big black turban on his head and so I decided that since he was doing the driving, I best just stick to the subject at hand... like what airline I was flying on, and not get into a discussion about 9-11!

I wisely took the day off today. I'm catching up on the camp laundry as well as my laundry. It's been great not to rush off to work today. ...It took me awhile but I figured out that life is easier if you take a day off after time away like this! Tomorrow will be pay-back I'm sure!!!

Madison had a great time at camp... looking forward to going again next year. She said she had to sing every day except for 2 so she must have gotten all of your letters. Thanks for those. I haven't actually seen them yet.

Thanks for reading! Leah