A fine, fine weekend

My life is so different now than it was just a few years ago. When I moved here to West Virginia, I didn't know anyone except my husband. He worked in various places throughout the state, and for several years was gone three or four days a week. I spent a lot of time here in the Middle of Nowhere by myself, honing my online skills and knitting. A lot.

He worked in Huntington for a couple of years. For one of those years we rented a house and I moved there. I never really got to know my way around Cabell County, but I knew where the mall was (heh), and we met lots of people. Those connections led to our going to Greenbo Lake every fall for a relaxing, rewarding and refreshing conference, one we've been going to since 2000. We've only missed one year. We were on our way to Kentucky in 2010 when we learned my father had died.

This past weekend was the conference, and it was – again – a reunion with old friends, an opportunity to make new ones and a time to refresh, renew and relax.

For the past six years I've been involved with another group, one I learned of when I began volunteering to elect President Obama. The West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women annual meeting is next weekend. I have a lot to do to get ready for it in the next three days, since I have to be there Thursday. The past three days would have been helpful, time wise, for getting things organized, but I've found that the tasks in front of me usually take up the available hours anyway.

Everything will be ready, on time. And if I forget something? Oh, well. That's not to say I'm not going to do my best to have everything I need done and packed and ready on time. It is to say that I'm pretty sure no one is going to scold me if something gets left behind.

In fact, I'm quite sure that – at my age, especially – I'm beyond worrying about others' opinions. I learned that through the folks at this weekend's conference, over the past couple decades. I don't know if anyone else is born knowing that what other people think of them is none of their business, but it took me a while.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned in my life is that not everyone is going to like me. And the way I learned that is by conceding that I don't like everyone I meet. It's one of those "if A = B and B = C, then A = C" things.

I think.

Anyhoo, time's a wasting. I didn't have much computer time over the weekend and need to go through emails, prepare a report, and work on a candidate's project. I also need to put dinner in the slow cooker, do laundry, mow the grass (AGAIN!), and begin making piles of Things I Need To Take With Me.

Because I wouldn't want to forget anything and have someone think less of me for it, now, would I?