Passionate

Me, probably off on a tangent...

So what are the odds of everything going smoothly when I travel to teach?  50-50.  Either they will...or they won't.

And when they don't, they usually don't in a rather spectacular fashion.

I've grown used to things not being ideal.  You learn to get flexible very quickly, or you would drive yourself bananas.

So I make lists, check them twice (thrice, more) hope I remember everything.  But usually I forget something.

Like the time I forgot my little travel purse on the kitchen counter.  I managed to phone Doug and get him to pick it up and deliver it back to the airport at the very last second.  But I was the absolute last person on board.  I think the only reason they didn't leave without me is that I'd already checked into the gate and they knew I was there - somewhere.

The time I had a massive allergic reaction (several times) and threw up all night and was brain dead or near as, the following day.

The time I got food poisoning.  

The time my plane couldn't depart due to fog, mad scramble to re-book, bought a ticket on another airline because their plane had radar and could take off in the fog.  Of course that meant I didn't get reimbursed for the second ticket out of town, had to have the original airline rebook on all the flights I missed, arriving at last at midnight with a two hour drive to my hostess' house falling into bed at 2 am with a 7 am wake up call.

The time a conference seminar assistant didn't realize she needed to pick up the class handouts so I had to do the entire complex topic with no references for the students.  Lots of air drawings that day.  And I did a terrible job because I didn't have my handouts, which threw me for a loop.

A friend asked if things didn't get better.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Read Daryl Lancaster's blog for some of her adventures with travelling.

So why on earth do I keep doing this?  Well, I'm not.  I have stopped taking bookings for guilds. (Unless I get arm twisted with a reason for me to make an exception.)

I have cut back to only teaching the Olds master weaving programs (with, as mentioned, a few exceptions).

But yes, I have done this for a rather long time.  I have been teaching since the month I quit my 'real' job in order to become a professional weaver.  My first workshop was a spinning workshop - coincidentally the very same night my father died.

I drove to smaller towns and villages in the region.  I have white knuckled my way through snowstorms, white outs/blizzards, black ice, pouring down rain and thunder storms.

I have flown all over the place in good weather...and bad...sometimes missing flights, arriving late, arriving at a completely different airport with people on the ground scrambling to get me.

I have arrived without my luggage.  More air drawings, until it caught up to me.

So, then, why?  Why keep doing this?

Well, I could be flippant and say I'm 'warped'.  But the fact is I am passionate about weaving and I am passionate about trying to help people understand the craft.

The next two trips are both driving.  I am hoping for good weather, but it either it will be good...or it won't.  Either way I will hit the highway Friday am as early as I can for the nearly 500 mile drive and hope it goes smoothly.