A Weekend to Write

My daughter returned to college January 2nd, and every time she leaves, my heart breaks a little.  I knew I wasn’t supposed to be seeing her again until May, which seemed an eternity away.  I tried to get her to meet me in Phoenix, but she didn’t have the time off.  She suggested I come to visit her.  But really, who wants to go to Chicago in February?  Cold, blizzard like snow, blustery lake winds, not great touring weather.  When commenting on missing my daughter, my friend Amy reminded me that sometimes a weekend away, holed up in a hotel, can be restorative.  The more I thought about that, the more it resonated.  A weekend away to write (and read others’ writing) sounded like perfection.

A quick plane trip, and a Lyft ride to Evanston, and I find myself in a large hotel room with a view of the lake and the swirling snow that necessitated moving my trip up 12 hours.  Despite wanting a weekend alone, I decided to bring my 10 year old with me. He is also a budding writer, and is always interested in talking protagonist versus antagonist with me.  He is also about to turn 11, and I’m starting to realize that the formative years are almost over in my house.  I’ll be moving into a completely different stage of parenting soon. 

I packed Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi, my next bookclub book, written by an amazing female physician.  We’re both members of a female physicians writing group (I’m meeting the coolest people there!) and through that connection, I’ve had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Nadia.  I also packed a journal, my computer with Scrivener, my favorite sweatshirt, and a little extra space to tuck the books I plan to buy from Bookends and Beginnings, the amazing bookshop in Evanston.  I sense a lot of coffee in my future, luckily Evanston has plenty of great coffee shop options!  Stay tuned, I hope I can use this weekend wisely!