Guess Who's Back?

The spot is on the mirror, not my suit LOL.....

So I just got back from Denver about 1am last night. Beautiful scenery; too bad all I got to see of it was during the ride to and from the airport. The mountains are BEAUTIFUL. The most beautiful I have ever seen, even from a distance. It was a dry 93 degrees when I got there and you could still see snow caps on the highest ones from afar. My shotty video wouldnt upload as a video (sorry)but it really was breathtaking…. Just not as much as the panic attack I had on the plane ride out there. We experienced the type of turbulence that falls just short of a class action suit but definitely makes one contemplate her mortality. My chest had been tight since I sat down – in the last fucken row of the plane – and when all the “shaken not stirred” began, it just got worse. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe and despite my efforts to calm myself, the tears could not be controlled. Just my luck, just at the worst of it the flight attendants received the order to return to their jump seats. Great. Now I cant even get any assistance. Luckily I was sitting with an old couple that comforted and took care of me until it all passed. They gave me one of the 800 bottles of water they came prepared with and rubbed my back until I came down from the ledge. I spent the next hour watching them sleep hand in hand and all I could think was how much I want to be them when Im their age. God bless em.

The hotel was 4-starrish but beneath par in comparison to my last summit experience at The Island in Newport Beach, California. The organizational skills of the hotel (and my event coordinator) were even farther beneath par. The hotel double-booked a couple of conferences leaving us at least 4 rooms short for the executives we had coming. Of course that meant some of the staff had to triple and quadruple up to free rooms for them and yours truly was one of the casualties. I was not a happy camper. Me and my original roommate did get our room back the second night though, but the bad taste had already been left; an appropriate phrase since the food there was highly unimpressive.

I managed to get out of there last night early enough to attempt an earlier flight but apparently both earlier flights were delayed past my own flight’s departure. Not a big deal; I like airports. It’s the best place on earth to people-watch. Too bad my phone was dead when the most interesting subjects were passing by. I would have loved to get some photos because no one would ever believe me without them LOL. But I had enough time to have the most God-awful chicken tenders I’ve ever had in my life and consume enough alcohol to guarantee I’d sleep at least part of the flight. Unfortunately the worst turbulence occurred early and I was wide awake for it, with the help of the worst animated flick United could have ever chosen to air on flight. I don’t even remember what it was called but I need to write a sternly worded letter to Pixar; note to self.

There were moments though. There were conversations with executives making more money than I could ever hope to see in my lifetime that set my sights on so much more than I could ever imagine. There were moments sitting outside the hotel golf course with a moon so orange it looked like a CG effect and out in back with green for acres and a breeze crafted by God himself. Aggravation and shortcomings aside, there was beauty to be found, as there always is, if you’re looking.

I canceled my Fourth of July trip upstate to focus on more priority things; one to DC sometime next month to check on a friend that hasn’t been doing so well and another to Charlotte Labor Day weekend to witness the nuptials of a longtime friend who never thought she would see the day. I contemplated whether or not I would go for a while but then I realized that this was, for her, a moment; one that I needed to be a part of. ..a moment that signified change beyond expectation, which I have become all too familiar with on both the good and bad ends. Change is still on the horizon for me and every day I wake up and squint in the glare of the unwelcome sun in my early morning face I feel it nearing. It has yet to make itself known but it’s coming, so I wait – coffee in hand and song in heart. No idea where it came from or why the sensation is so strong, but for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I am in a happy place. What woman in their right mind questions that?