This was a banner week for moi.
On Sunday, I got in my car and drove about an hour and 40 minutes to Cornwall, NY to join several of my colleagues for a "retreat" to brainstorm and
strategize for a business we are all involved in. So the first milestone was driving that long all by myself! Fortunately, I was able to put my eye weight on for the drive so I only had to stop once to put drops in my non-tearing eye - yahoo!
I was beset with anxiety leading up to and during the drive. Of the approximately 10 people I was going to see there, only one had seen my "new" face. I suddenly felt like a gawky, insecure teenager. I had several raging internal debates about whether I should just cancel and stay home. Almost did just that a couple of times. I spent most of Sunday afternoon feeling teary and scared. However, I powered through.
Arranged to meet my friend and colleague Denny for dinner - felt that would be a good way to "break in" slowly in
preparation for the big "unveiling" on Monday morning. Well, as luck would have it, we ended up having pizza on the patio of the Inn and were joined by three other colleagues - none of whom ran
shrieking at the sight of me! Huge hurdle passed!
Monday morning, I met up with all the other folks - and, again, no one ran shrieking from the room.
The two days were successful in so many ways! I got to know some people who I only really knew peripherally before, which was
wonderful - we got some great strategies developed - I put in the two longest days yet since surgery - and I did very well at our group dinner Monday night (complete with background noise and lots of people talking - all of which can spell disaster for we
SSD folks!)
So, at the moment, I am feeling on top of the world! My friends
Kura and Peg are coming out tomorrow for the weekend - this will involve pedicures, wine, food, wine, laughter, wine, dominoes, wine (maybe some Prosecco - thanks for the suggestion, Lorenzo, more wine... Well, you get the picture!
Feeling good in the Northern Compound...