Excited and exhausted

So for the excitement.....
We are leaving tomorrow morning, bright and early, to go to Bloomington for our wedding reception there. There are so many reasons I am excited......first of all, time with mom and dad always makes me happy and centers me when I am slightly off. There is nothing like the smell of those who gave you life and unconditional love to straighten out all kinks.
Second, I am going to see friend of the family and extended family that I haven't seen in far too long. And, they are going to get to meet Steve, which is wonderful and brings all of my family full circle. And, this will get us away from daily life, a little mini-vacation and remind us once again of that just-married feeling that we've lost since the wedding due to stress and work and other things requesting our time.

Now, for the exhaustion. We are hosting a bridge convention at the hotel. In fact, we have had three really stressful HUGE conventions back to back, and this one is the final straw. First, it was a Pakistani Physicians convention, and the language barrier was sometimes so overwhelming. We would have lines backed up 12 groups deep because it took so long to try to figure out what the other was saying. The second convention was some international convention, with people from all over the world. Some spoke no English. Some, very little. Again, the language and cultural differences could become overwhelming when trying to figure out and help when the language was different. It made it very difficult to help, which is what we are there to do, when you don't know what it is they need.
And there's this one. The bridge convention. Yep, you guessed it. No one is under the age of 55 or so. Most are so sweet and wonderful, but then you have the few cantancerous (I have no damn idea how to spell that word but it's been in my mind for the last few weeks) old fogies who have no time, patience or desire to wait until their turn. They cut in front of each other, argue if the answer isn't what they thought it would be, and all require dinner reservations within a two block radius.

But, there was a wonderfully sweet woman who I helped today. She is from northern Rhode Island, had to be over 65, and was trying to figure out how to get to a bus tour pick up location. I kept trying to explain it, then drew a map, then used hand gestures, but all to no avail. I could see the panic in her face after about five minutes of my explaining how it was half a block away at the opposite side of the intersection. I had already taken her deposit, and she was about to give up and not go, for fear of getting lost. So, I told her I would walk her there.

I left from behind the counter and walked her the half-block to the drop off spot. She was so nice and sweet, and I just kept thinking, "If this were my Pappy or my Good Mamaw, I would want someone to do this for them." And it made it all the more enjoyable. She talked about how she plays bridge because it's supposed to "keep the mind sharp". I told her I started knitting to "keep the body relaxed." We had some laughs. We had our chit-chat. And it was awesome.

It's those few, those who know they need some extra help and aren't afraid to admit it, that make my job so worthwhile. Those that think they know all but still ask and are pissed when the answer isn't what they thought it should be drive me nuts. If you already know so much, why the hell did you ask? Because you didn't really know it. And now you are pissed that I did know it.

Ah well.

I left work today and don't go back until Monday afternoon, then off again until Friday. I'm taking this break and enjoying every moment of it.

Or I will be, after the damn laundry is done that is.