I thought I was OK with it

Now I'm not so sure.

I didn't wind up going to either conference after all, and I'm sitting here crying over these pictures (linked above), knowing what fun I missed. Not just fun, but contact. Love.

I made a decision. A concious decision that I only had X amount of energy, and going to the conference would take (X+Y)*Z, where Y is the amount of energy needed to socialize and drive the 3 hour round trip, and Z is the energy to wrestle with my 20+ lb mover and shaker 10 month old while trying to also keep him from gnawing on all the chairs. ;-) In other words, more energy than I coul hope to muster. In the end, it's a good thing I didn't go, because dh and I both spent Saturday night and Sunday morning with a mild stomach virus, and my X amount of energy was more than halved, and was TOTALLY needed in caring for my family.

But still, those pictures! Those smiling faces! Those friends I haven't seen in a year and others I have never met IRL but hope to one day...

To anyone that was there, I'm sorry I missed you! To anyone that couldn't go but wanted to, I'm right there with you!!

I'm going to go read Elizabeth's post on internet friendships and internet time about a gagillion times. I think it will make me feel better. It's not about the exact same thing, but it totally relates.