Still Exhausted

I thought a couple days’ distance would give me the clarity to write coherently about this last week, but not yet. The last 48 hours have only brought more experiences and perspectives for me to process. This conference and entire week have been amazing; there's no other word.

I am exhausted—mentally, physically and emotionally. This afternoon the plane made its final rolling/banking turn out of DC and I suddenly burst into silent tears. I’m not sure what those tears were—joy for what has happened in these last six days, sorrow that it’s over, maybe the pure exhaustion that comes from overwhelming experiences (even good ones).

Sunday night Carrie and Cassandra talked me into a glass of wine because I was so “wired” (I generally don’t drink the stuff). It worked. But as soon as it wore off, my mind was racing again. John described it as an endorphin/adrenalin overload, and he was probably right.

Monday was a blur. I slept ‘til 10:00 and was just half-dead all day. From lack of sleep and lack of food, my energy level was such that I tired simply from a trip to the store. But my mind never stopped its gyrations. That evening I finally started to come around and I prepared for the job interview. That was a whole ‘nother great experience…

I won’t know for probably at least two weeks, but I know it went very, very well. It’s in the field of “troop support,” and it looks like exactly the kind of job I want and need at this point in my “career.” I’ll write more about it in a separate post.