What happened to March?
This post is my personal story. I’m sharing it because I’m sure most of you
asking yourself the same question that I find myself asking, what happened to March?
Not because I really don’t know, but seriously….
My month started great!
I would be going to Las Vegas for the first time EVER for my IAAP board
meeting and CAPStone. I was looking forward to the opportunity to continue the
board work – in person, followed by great education and connecting with
members.
As an added bonus, I planned to leave the week before and
spend some time with one of my best friends, Deb, catching up and sightseeing
on a road trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas with stops at the Grand Canyon and
Hoover Dam. If you are thinking Thelma and Louise, you’re not far off. My trip started out as planned, with a
little more caution because of this virus – but it hadn’t hit us – yet. I flew
into Phoenix on March 8th, got a tattoo on the 9th (my
first), met my friends family, visited the Grand Canyon, went on a great
short hike at Toadstool
Trailhead , visited Bryce
and Zion National Parks,
visited Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam before heading into
Vegas. Unfortunately, I was also having daily
conversations with IAAP leadership on the Coronavirus/COVID-19 and what impact
it would have on our events.
On Thursday morning, while at Hoover Dam, we made the
necessary and unfortunate decision to cancel CAPStone and our board meeting. At that time, we had no idea the way the virus
would impact Vegas during the time our conference was scheduled. We only knew we needed to do what was right
for our members/conference attendees, their safety and their piece of mind. As your
chair, I knew without a doubt that this was the right decision for everyone.
Personally, my life got pretty interesting pretty quick. With the help of IAAP staff I was able to get
my flight changed to depart the next afternoon. Even though we knew we wouldn’t
be there long, we continued on to Vegas and booked a room at the Bellagio for
the night. In a whirlwind, we had drinks
at the pool, donated to the casino, had dinner with Barrett (Shaw) and watched
the fountains at the Bellagio. The next day before Deb dropped me at the airport and
headed back to Arizona, we found Counts Kustoms (one of my hubby’s favorite
shows) and took a tour of the show room.
We took a lot of pictures and found a souvenir or two to take home. We found a Dunkin’ and headed to the
airport. I was thankful to be on the plane home and more
than a little nervous about what was coming and the havoc it could potentially
cause – I had no idea!
When I got home the month really went crazy. I spent the Saturday and Sunday on the phone
with my leadership team at work planning for the upcoming week and the shift to
working remotely and deploying technology to staff and students to support
remote teaching/working. We held our
IAAP board meeting via Zoom on Sunday. That
work week is a blur, I was on site all week, helping with planning and training
staff on the technologies they’d need to work remote. Thursday and Friday were very quiet on
campus – way to quiet as there was only a very small group of staff
onsite. Friday, March 20th
was the last day I was physically at work. The world and our work have changed. I am confident we’ll weather the storm.
I’m still asking myself, what happened to March because most
of it is a blur. I’m sure most of you
can relate.
I look forward to the time we can connect in person. Until then, be safe, practice social/safe distancing.
Please keep our essential employees in
your hearts and thoughts/prayers as they are on the front lines fighting this
virus head on.
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