Alone Again...Naturally

Sam left a few hours ago on a business trip.  Tonight he drives to Spokane and leaves tomorrow morning for sunny Florida.  He's attending what is called TAPPI training.  Last time he went, in January 1999, he took me with him.  That year the training was held in Orlando, and I finally got to realize my life long dream to going to Walt Disney World.  We flew over a day early, and spent Sunday touring the Kennedy Space Center.  It was amazing and fun.  But the real fun for me started on Tuesday when I purchased a four day park hopper pass and spent the next three days at the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney's MGM parks.  I went alone, but I really had a blast.  It was definitely better than spending those days either at the hotel watching tv or shopping.  I can shop anywhere...but to be in Orlando, so close to WDW...I had to go!  I wanted to go!  Alone or not...I went.  It was an adventure, and every bit as wonderful as I had hoped.  I still remember the excitement I felt as I rode the boat toward the entrance to the Magic Kingdom.  I felt like a child again.  All day, every day.  Sam's training ended on Thursday, and on Friday we both went to Epcot Center.  It was a memorable trip.

Obviously, I'm not going with him this year because I must attend the annual Board meeting on Thursday when the auditor presents his report.  This year the meeting should be a good one.  Maybe not as exciting as last year, when we ended the year in the red in a major way, but thanks to our new Executive Director, we recovered all the losses and ended on a highly positive bottom line.  :D  Having the right leader at the helm always makes a huge difference.  I will never regret my decision to be part of the coup that got rid of the ineffective Director we had before.  It's all about matching the talent to the task.

We have an airport here in town, but most businesses opt to have their employee's fly out of Spokane, since it is less expensive to drive there than it is to fly out of Lewiston.  And people wonder why it is so hard to attract and entice the airlines to our town.  Our airport is serviced by only one airline, Horizon, but I have heard buzz that another airline is looking to begin service here sometime this year.  I hope so.  We need the jobs, we need to put people back to work so they can take care of their families.  I wonder if our local business leader's realize just how much they are hurting the local economy when they chose to fly out of Spokane.