Off to Denver, But Leaving Behind...

As I scurried hurriedly through my last few hours at home very late last night, pausing at the computer to send some final emails to the Bay Area Convention attendees, and hastily reviewing my jammed convention schedule spreadsheet (do I need to RSVP for that?), my  pace slowed as I settled into my final task.  Markers and paper at the ready, I crafted bedtime notes to the children I am leaving  behind.

While in Denver, I'll miss the last late bedtime of summer, the last lazy morning, the last minute shopping for school clothes one size bigger, their sweet and silly faces as they take the annual first day photograph at our front door.

The convention is historic, but to my kids, starting second and fourth grade is the biggest thing they've ever done in their young lives. And I'm missing it. Won't be there to wave goodbye blinking back a mother's tears. Won't be there for their run-and-jump in your  arms hug when they return.  Won't be there to do the meet and greet  dance with the other parents, the process of sizing up who will do what for the classroom this school year.

Nope cuz I'm off to Denver, so I'll leave these notes for them to be discovered every night under their covers at bedtime. Homemade cartoons, inside jokes, references to things that matter. A way to sooth the guilt tinged euphoria of my trip. A way to say, though my body is in Denver, my heart is with you. 

Here's to the kids, all the kids who have been on this Yes We Can journey with us, but who for the next few days will stay behind.   It's the oldest cliche in the book but it's true: we're doing this for them.