A Weekend Getaway

No, not to Puerto Vallarta, you silly goose! That's not until October and vacation brain will be kicking in very soon. I was actually much more obsessed when I first scheduled the trip but I'm sure the excitement will begin building soon.


I'm talking about a weekend getaway this weekend to (cue the drum roll) Louisville, KY. What? Hey, it may not be New Yawk or some tropical paradise but I'm staying in a nice hotel, I get to order room service and in-room movies and I don't have to think about keeping anyone happy but me. I can get up when I want, eat what I want and do what I want when I want to do it. So how is that different from my life now? Well...I guess it's not that different. But room service!!


I'm going to the KLA/KSMA annual conference (librarians one and all) that I normally go to every year about this time. Sometimes I present a session but this year, I'm just going to attend sessions and that is SO much easier. I'll never forget the time I agreed to review books and movies and had to cart boxes and boxes of stuff around with me. That was no fun. This may be the last conference I go to - since next year is my last year of work, I'm not sure I'll attend the conference. But I may. I do enjoy the hotel room and the room service but I do actually go to a lot of sessions and get great ideas from librarians who are much younger and much more energetic than me.


Almost 20 years as a library media specialist in an elementary school. When I started teaching, there were no cell phones, cordless phones, DVD players, laptop computers (VERY few people even had computers in their homes), ipods, the Internet was not in common use and wireless devices were just an idea in some scientist's brain. I had the first computer in our school, hooked up to a little modem. It took forever to get on the Internet and there wasn't really much on there for students to use. I was the first librarian in our county to set up a web page for my library. I was in charge of our video conferencing classroom, where we linked up one time with some astronauts at NASA.I was on the cutting edge of technology. Now, there are young librarians who far surpass me in their knowledge of technology. It's amazing to think of all the changes that have happened in my field in the last 20 years.


But you know what?


On the first day of school, I read aloud to a group of students who sighed with contentment as they settled down for a story.


On my last day of work, I will read aloud to a group of students who will sigh with contentment as they settle down for a story.


Some things never change. The good things.



I'll update you on my trip. I'm sure they will have wireless in my hotel room. I'll blog as I eat my room service dinner. I can't wait.