Monday morning was incredibly busy, I dragged myself out of bed, went to class to turn in a paper, started and finished packing for my trip to Georgia, and drove to the airport with a flashing check oil symbol on my dashboard. Many of my stressors could have been avoided if I had done some preventative planning, but I made it to the airport with time to spare before my flight.

During my travel time, I spent the majority of my time reading an astronomy book so that I wouldn't fall behind in physics. As i was reading it, I was trying to relate the course material to the presentation that I would make at the Georgia Conference on Children and Families, however the connections I managed to make where meager and weak at best. After landing in Atlanta, I was greeted by Sally, Trayce, and Jae. Atlanta is surprisingly warm and full of fall colors. It was a nice taste of the east coast fall.

While mentally prepping for the presentation the next day, I remembered just how new it feels to tell parts of my story each time I speak. I know the concepts that I am going to speak about, but the details that surface are always different or are presented in distinct manner. My presentation demeanor depends heavily on the audience. The Georgia Conference had an audience that was obviously engaged in the presentation. At the beginning, people were a little taken with lunch, but from the stage I could see how the expressions changed.

I wish I could have stayed for the entire conference and had the chance to attend some of the other presentations planned. Listening to the perspectives of others involved in child welfare is my favorite part of attending conferences, and helps in preparation for my presentations because it helps me relate to certain individuals and/or highlight concepts that I think are being addressed well or not at all. Going to conferences allows me to see how much I didn't know as a child in the system, and allows me to better understand the limitations that child welfare professionals work under, so that I can see how/why my anger as a teenager was unfounded or founded in a base of lack of understanding.

Anyhow, the conference was great and Sally is a joy. She has a a great amount of energy to deal with twenty-somethings. :)

Thank you to everyone there.