I have been watching the BlogHer site for news on the annual conference. Last year they were in San Francisco, as you may remember because I was dithering with the idea of attending. It just wasn’t feasible for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is my aversion for sleeping sans husband. 

This coming summer however is a must go and it’s Chicago locale couldn’t be more perfect. It’s just hours away from my mom who loves nothing better than having her granddaughter stay over. While Rob and I marvel at the fact that other people find BabyD sweet and a joy to look after, we don’t look these gift horses in the mouths but take them at the words coming out of said mouths. 

So it looks as though I will be able to fly into the hometown with BabyD, stay a few days and take off for the convention on my own. I asked Rob to come along but the estrogen fest nature left him feeling he could sacrifice our blissful bedding for a week or so of renovation and manly tools. My being out of the house will allow him to kick up dust – literally – that he can’t when I am around due to my allergies. I also have this habit of checking on him at too close intervals because I am sure that long silences mean he has a) fallen off something and is dead, b) sliced off a body part and is dying or c) both. It’s nothing really. Post loss syndrome. I still check on both he and BabyD in the night to make sure they are breathing. I hope to get over that someday.

BlogHer will be under one – expensive – roof, but no schlepping from here to another here. I haven’t been to a convention of any sort since my former school district gave up on the idea of once a year spring conventions. They used to drag us all downtown to the convention center on what nearly always turned out to be a cold, drizzily March day to listen to speakers and wander around peering at education wares which none of us aside from special ed people had budgets or authority to purchase. I think they were hoping we’d just dig deep and buy text books ourselves. My strategy involved attending one speaker session where I would be seen by an administrator or one of their minions among the staff and making sure that I strolled the exhibits until I ran into at least four co-workers who could vouch for my presence, and then I went to the mall and met up with other shirkers like me for lunch. I was the type who gave teaching a bad name. 

I am looking forward to meeting people I blog with however and others whose blogs I admire and/or comment on. By then perhaps I will have my memoir done and can network a bit to find out how to publish the darn thing. Actually I might have met a publisher yesterday at a workshop my writing group sponsored who might be an inroad, but I have to finish writing before I approach her with my questions.

Anyone else up for Chicago at the end of July? Yeah, not it’s most appealing season, but I am going this coming year.