Away....

So, lots going on here. I went to Salt Lake City for a conference on Wednesday morning, and didnt get back until Saturday morning. This was my first time away from Lauren and was good/bad all together.

I love the landscape of Salt Lake- it always seems that I land at the airport on a sunny, blue-sky day- the mountains are right up to the city and all around. It always takes my breath away and I ask myself "why dont I live here?" OK, so I eventually answer myself, and NO_ I will not be moving there. But, gosh- it has to be one of the prettiest cities I have seen. Next, I check in to my hotel. The meeting was at a very nice hotel and I had a beautiful suite (all suite hotel) all to myself. I ordered up extra pillows and I had big king bed all to myself with NINE PILLOWS- yep that's right! Nine of them!! I like pillows, and at the rate I was paying- I could have as many pillows as I wanted.

I was there for the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) annual conference- it was pretty good, some talks were great and others were not so great. I saw lots of pharmacists that I know from accross the country and earned credit toward my BCOP recertification. It was good to catch up with people, and I had the opportunity to spend time with my friend Laurie who lives there. She is the mother of Ella, the little girl who had surgery a few weeks ago that I posted previously about. Miss Ella is doing great and if it wasn't for the scar on her head you would never know she had major surgery- she is smart and sassy and energetic- a very sweet little girl. It was so nice to spend time with Laurie and her family- they are the type of friends that are fun to just hang out and chat with. We did a little shopping and a whole lot of hanging out. Laurie is very crafty and has all kinds of neat projects she does with her daughter. She also is an avid blogger and scrapbooker- I just never seem organized enough to do anything like that - she works full time and has a toddler and a husband who travels! I dont know how she does it all, but I want to be better about doing more with my pictures that I take.

So, how was it to be away from my family for that long?? Well, three nights was too much to start out with.  I enjoyed the first night- I took a bath and enjoyed all my pillows and slept till 7am! Traveling through the airport was as easy as can be- it was a welcome break from the chaos of it all. By day 2 I was already missing Lauren so bad that I wanted to come back. The 3rd night was really tough, but Laurie and Joe were nice enough to have me as their guest so I had to cuddle their daughter a bit for a baby fix.  If I would not have had to go to the saturday session, I would have probably changed my flight and come back on friday, to be honest. I wonder when this gets easier? One day will I just not mind being away from her? Or am I going to cry like a baby every night once she goes off to college or gets married??? I sure hope this gets easier......