#lameLondon

Sitting in a group.

My impending trip comes up.

Someone asks "Where is the conference?"

I say "London"

Eyebrows rise, eyes widen.

Darn.

Now I have to say it.

"Not that London......in England...... London in Ontario......Canada"

People visibly deflate and lose interest.  Some look sorry for me.

This has happened many times to my colleague Jennifer and I over the last 4 months.

So we have come to use the "Lame London" moniker for our destination.

Which is quite untrue and unfair.

It is quite a lovely little city in pastoral southern Ontario......home to beautiful Western University.

And its not like we are going to see much of it anyways.

This is a big ol' country so it will take us all day tomorrow (we'll be up at 4:30am ) to fly to Toronto and connect on to London.  By the time we catch a cab to the hotel it will be ...... late.....especially for us BC girls.

And the Leadership Institute is pretty jam packed.

But here's the thing.

We will have arrived ....... alone (ish)....... to the land of puffy white duvets, big beds to ourselves..... a large tub to soak in.... and..... room service. At the Hilton.

We are truly excited for the Leadership Institute.  I was here two years ago and it changed me as a person and me as a leader in my organisation.  I shed many a tear on those puffy white pillows.  I was alone and I had time to think deeply about our work and my role.  It was hard but it was transformational.

So I am bringing Jennifer this time.

So we can walk the streets of #lameLondon together and cry together and have deep conversations.

And order room service.

It's been a very tough few weeks (heck its been a year if we start counting) for us both and when the wheels lift off the ground tomorrow I think we will both feel relieved to be away for a bit.  Leaving our children in the capable hands of their fathers and our work in the capable hands of our colleagues.

Leaving our phones on airplane mode.

And searching for early childhood education conferences in the Bahamas.