time of my life

I could have been depressed about not getting a weekend, but there was nothing unpleasant about it. It was late last week, and I will still working on printing out 70 copies of a 170-page book for the upcoming seminar by the Sweat Institute here in Atlanta, where hordes of AO chiropractors gather for the biannual meeting. It's a reunion, it's an incredible learning experience, it's a party. It's a celebration of all that I love about this profession. I was doing my normal job on Thursday and Friday, in addition to helping plan for this huge event (the whole office staff was working like a machine to get everything done), all the while with 2-10 visiting docs floating around in the halls, following Dr. Roy, peeking in on the x-ray equipment, asking to see the film analysis software. They were fun, even if their presence did make me a bit nervous. To be honest, I wish every day could have been like Friday, when the clinic was a living, breathing entity, with its visitors and bustling crowds, all overflowing with love for chiropractic and the Sweats.

I worked well past my normal 4-hour morning on Saturday. I went to the seminar at lunchtime, ran some errands, then got to sit in on the presentations, got to eat dinner with all these incredible doctors, got to ride back in an overcrowded truck with 5 of them, laughing all the way back to the hotel, where I sat drinking Budweiser and champagne till 2am, got to hear stories from their days in my shoes, when they were "the intern"s, stories about Dr. Roy, discussions about their clinics and what works and doesn't work in practice, got to hear countless stories about patients whose lives were changed, saved, because of chiropractic, because of Atlas Orthogonal, because of Roy Sweat, a man who I am lucky enough to have as my current boss and mentor. I chatted with some docs I knew, met a bunch I didn't know, networked with those who will be nearby on my next adventure. It was such a loving, fantastic crowd to be involved with.

I had to wake again at 8am on a Sunday, to attend the seminar, help with clean-up. But I also got to sit on the clinic porch drinking more Bud (and later, eating some Waffle House, Dr. Sweat-style) and sharing more stories with people who I now realize are my colleagues, the family I became apart of once I graduated last February and decided I'd do this amazing AO work. It's been such an honor, and such a fun ride, that I don't care if I only got 5 hours of sleep for the rest of my life, it's an experience I only wish I could prolong indefinitely. I was so grateful and ecstatic, almost disbelieving, that I was part of the whole thing. What an overwhelming, amazing weekend.

But, the winds of change are fast approaching, and they are beckoning me onto the next course... one where I will inevitably be equally as grateful for and as excited about.

Life really is beautiful.