Hello and Happy Monday! I didn’t mean to skip a post for Friday but . . . here we are.

I’ll start with the important part: the conference was great, of course. The good thing anticipatory anxiety is that once you get rolling with whatever it is that had you anxious, it generally goes away. And in this case, that’s what happened. My Uber was right on time and I was ready on time, too. There wasn’t much traffic into Boston and the check in process was simple and fast. I saw people I knew almost immediately. And I made new friends at the WEMO (Women Elected Municipal Officials) lunch. Dale made it in easily after work. Those were all things I worried about. And they all worked out just fine.

I even remembered to take photos!

Work friends. You see, this conference was for my role on my town’s Board of Selectmen, but there were people from the town where I work there as well. No one else on my board attended so it was nice to have fun with this crew.

And more friends. Some are colleagues, some are former colleagues, all are people who have either helped me, encouraged me, supported me, or mentored me.

One of the great things about this conference is all the receptions in the evening. Free drinks. Free food, including the best little lamb chops ever. Lots of laughs. And lots and lots of people. (The countdown to see if we avoid Covid has started.)

The hotel was great and we had a nice (albeit limited) view of the Boston skyline from the 20th floor.

And when we were on our own for food we did pretty well, too.

Burgers at Shake Shack.

And a wonderful seafood platter from a nearby restaurant.

I’m already looking forward to attending next year. And I’m going to come back and read this post every time I feel anxious about it.