I probably shouldn't jump the gun, but too often thoughts of retirement are clogging up the brain. I spent yesterday at the Sewing Expo, in Puyallup, immersed in something other than school, and it was a breath of fresh air. Yes, it was crowded, and yes, it was noisy, but there was all the stuff I used to love to do; wonderful fabrics, cool patterns, lovely yarn, and tons of creativity. I split up from my traveling companions pretty early, and met up with a Facebook friend, and then I just wandered. My usual approach to the Sewing Expo is to take a quick walk around the buildings, and then head back to the booths I am most interested in. I didn't buy things just because I could; I bought them because they were things I will work with - once I get my creativity back! I bought two packs of kimono pieces and a cool button from Ah! Kimono, hand-painted silk and a scarf pattern from sweaterkits.com, three smaller pieces of fabric, a knit for a tee-shirt, a sheer for an shirt, and some plaid in a cotton for a vest from a shop called Billie's Designer Fabric in Chehalis, WA, and an Indygo Junction pattern called Floribunda - floral brooches in wools, which I just happen to have in my stash. What didn't I buy? No Park Bench Patterns, because even though I love them, I have yet to make one of the probably ten I own, no Petite Plus Patterns, because I have probably the same number of patterns, but I have sewn with those (even though I'll probably end up buying the jean jacket pattern from the website), and although I really wanted to buy the Sewing Workshop bag with the pattern and the delicious-looking fabric in the nifty zippered clear-plastic bag, I resisted. Oh, and no rayon batik because I have yards of it, all just waiting to be sewn.
I was totally beat when we left after 6+ hours, but it was the kind of tired that is not-so-bad. I mean, nobody argued with me, I had no problems whatsoever reading handwriting or text, and I didn't have to pick up kleenex, pencils, paper (insert other stuff that somehow always ends up on the floor when the children have vacated the place) - in other words, I had a great day with like-minded friends. Yes, the Moodle posts still have to be read and scored, and with mid-term on Monday, the comments will have to be made for my two classes. But, I have things to create, and a sewing room that needs to be hung out in every day, because retirement will be here in 200 workdays or so after this year is over on June 12 (no surprises that I know the last day of the year! Oh, and I know the rest of the holidays as well as the dates of the days I will be gone to meetings or whatever.)
Will I go to the Sewing Expo next year? Yes, I will. I might even take a personal day, and go on Friday, to get back into the groove of attending seminars the way I used to. Spend the night in a decent hotel, and go again on Saturday to spend the day shopping, fashion show-ing, and eating strawberry shortcake. Hang out with friends, or just the crowd of sewing folks - and know that in 2012, I won't have to worry about grading papers.
