I got to meet some members of the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians whom I had not met before. It was a great deal of fun to finally put names with faces!
The Association of Veterinary Behavior Technicians was accepted by NAVTA, and as a result, Veterinary Technician Specialist- Behavior, is probably in my future! Kudos to Ginny, Julie S., Marcia, Linda C., and Angela to their successful petition submission.
I made some excellent contacts to ramp up my speaking engagements.
I got to wander the French Quarter daily, and wander Bourbon Street nightly, drinking, smoking and engaging in general debauchery.
I had cafe au lait and biegnets at the world-famous Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street, reading my book and people watching at a little marble table under lazy fans circulating a heavy, humid breeze.
However, the last evening of the trip there was quite a lot of drama. I ended up not sleeping for 2 days and feeling really discouraged. I almost resigned from SVBT on that trip - but ultimately decided to hang in for the long haul.
As a sign of my decision, the universe arranged this meeting in Dallas:
Yep, I ran into my MICAH at the Dallas airport. We realized what was happening when we were both in our respective airports (me in New Orleans, he in Reno) and spoke on the phone. Who could believe our luck? My layover was to be a little over 90 minutes, his a mere 30. His flight was delayed 65 minutes so our layovers were the exact same length, and we arrived in the same terminal!
We had the chance to sit together and enjoy our friendship over a few cocktails before boarding our planes and jetting apart once more, me to Seattle and he to Florida.
So although things were looking grim at the end of my trip, this unbelievably wonderful surprise made it all worthwhile. I guess sometimes the universe is looking out for me after all.
