It's hard being a road warrior, finding yourself in a different city every week. When I was on pregnancy leave, I kind of missed the whole travel thing (and worried about being able to keep my Premiere status, which I have lost.) But I wanted to stay home to be with Ben and make sure that we bond together and that I wasn't an absentee mommy. That was one of the main reasons that I took on the client in Milwaukee - it was only two hours away (well, an hour and a half with my driving)

Lately, though, I've been traveling a lot more. As much as I love new experiences and seeing different parts of this country, the traveling life is a lonely one. I basically go to work in the morning, and usually by the time I'm done, all the cool touristy places are closed, so I end up going to the mall. Dinner is usually fast food, room service, or, if I'm feeling special, sushi, if I can find a good place.

This time around, I got lucky. I'm teaching a class this week, and one of my students invited me over to dinner at her house. I guess I should have had the "stranger danger" alarm turn on, but she was a sweetheart and if she did end up being a serial killer, people in the class knew where I was going and they would know to look in her dark and musty basement if I didn't show up the next day.

So I drove over to her place last night, which was an enjoyable ride in the hills north of Atlanta. I love the local roads around here. They're long, windy, and surrounded by lush green forests. Her house was gorgeous, and her husband and daughter wereawesome. They were so easy to talk to and joke around with that I immediately felt comfortable with them. We ate tortellini and freshly brewed sweet tea (y'all know how much I love that sweet tea!) Afterwards, we sat on the porch eating ice cream and just chatting about deep things like passport laws and dog farts. Although I knew I had a lot of work to do last night, I was reluctant to leave.

I take it as a big compliment when clients invite me out to dinner, even more so if it's out to dinner with their family or to their home. It shows me what amazing people they are, to be able to bring in this stranger into the lives of their loved ones, and even into their homes. I don't know if I'd be able to do the same thing (probably not, since my cooking sucks).

It was nice to have a sense of home, a sense of being comfortable around people while I've been here. As great as it was, though, I can't wait to go home tomorrow!

Posted by Yano at June 21, 2007 03:24 PM

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