On the Road Again

This is the time of year when I do a lot of traveling for work. I always go to the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics conference, usually held in Cincinnati (where I went earlier this month): my favorite philosophy conference of the year. I always go to the Children's Literature Festival sponsored by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg (where I'll go next week): my favorite author event of the year. This year I'm also going to the Franklin County Children's Literature Festival (in Kansas); this is a spinoff festival from the Warrensburg one that in the past was held on the Wednesday following the Monday-Tuesday of Warrensburg, but this year it's the week before, which means two flights in and out of Kansas City.

I'm also going to have the proud moment of attending my son Christopher's graduation from Basic Training for the U.S. Army Reserves, in Fort Jackson, South Carolina - this Thursday! Then, after all of these other trips, I'll be flying home to Colorado for spring break, and while I'm on spring break I'll fly back to Kansas City for two days of school visits there (necessitating a third flight to Kansas City): once you start attending the Warrensburg festival, you can become quite popular in the Kansas City school district.

This means I have FIVE flights this month, and I would have had six if Cincinnati hadn't been within driving distance of my home this year.

So today I'm trying to get done every single thing I need to do in my life for a while. I've figured out a couple of creative and cool things to do with my classes (and I'm not missing as many as I had feared because of careful planning); I have to take care of all those pesky little Loathsome Tasks on which I've been procrastinating; I have to get my life in ORDER!

And then I have to relax and have fun. Stressed as I feel at the thought of all this travel, I have to remember that, hey, I love doing this. I love flying. I love packing my backpack full of books to read on the plane. I love talking to kids about my books. I love meeting other authors. I'll get to see Christopher, whom I haven't seen since New Year's Day. Even as I'm already teary-eyed with the thought of missing out on sweet Greencastle pleasures (oh, Blue Door Cafe!), I'm humming Willie Nelson: "On the road again. . . . Can't wait to get on the road again. . . . "