Had a lovely, lovely time last night, speaking to and with the Chicago Legatus chapter. Great people, interesting conversation, and even a couple of familiar faces!
I flew – considering gas prices and the relatively low fare  (in Fort Wayne “International” Airport terms) I snagged, it was a toss-up, financially speaking,  between flying and driving, so I chose the former. Left at 3:30 yesterday, arrived about 3:30 (time zone change). Every time I travel, especially through an airport like O’Hare, I just can’t quite grasp where all of us are going. But we go, we come, and then we go again.
I was destined for the Courtyard in Des Plaines, called to make sure the shuttle was on its way, and waited. Up drove a Courtyard shuttle, and several of us boarded. It started going in a familiar direction – Rosemont, where I’ve stayed a few times. I was sort of puzzled because I knew my Courtyard was in Des Plaines, and somehow I thought Des Plaines was south and nowhere near Rosemont. (I later realized that I was probably confusing it with Downer’s Grove  – since they both start with “D.” Because, as my daughter would say, I’m smart like that.) I started to panic because I was due to be picked up in an hour or so, and I started to plan how I could get back to the airport and try to get another shuttle or how long it would take to get a cab and get to where I thought I needed to be.
But no matter. When we pulled up, I muttered to the driver, “I think I’m in the wrong Courtyard,” so he looked at my confirmation note and assured me that no, this was the right one – the only Courtyard that did shuttle service. Phew.
So, after a bit, my ride – some great people, one of whom is involved in the fight in Aurora against the Planned Parenthood clinic – arrived, and it was off to the races of dinner and a talk.  Very nice time.
Up this morning to catch the shuttle to O’Hare at 6:30, then fly back here. Any time I travel, I seem to be surrounded by groups involved in clothing retail. The last time I flew to Philadelphia, it was a very talkative group from Coach (I think) heading to Atlantic City for some corporate thing. Today on the shuttle, it was a smaller, but just as talkative group from some clothing operation (I don’t know which), whose flights last night had been cancelled or missed last night, so they were heading back to where ever they came from this morning. Tossing out ideas for Spring ’08 – they honed in on the concept of featuring a celebrity designer the same way restaurants and others feature celebrity chefs. Rachael Ray was, of course mentioned.
At one point, one guy said, “We already knew what we wanted to do. We had our ideas.”
And the woman wryly snapped, “Yeah, so it’s nice they just spent $15,000 to bring us all together anyway, right?”
But we go, we come, and we go again….