Actually, the seats are not only empty, they have long been stacked by impatient hotel staff–the equivalent of Jackson Browne’s roadies–who wasted no time coming in as one last session went a bit over.  Life goes on as a new conference comes in.

Many of us who attend the Autism Society conference leave quite exhausted.  It is not just a matter of exhaust from lack of sleep, although that is probably a condition probably applies to the nearly superhuman staff that has put in a marathon over the last week to keep the conference running.  Many of us who did get a decent amount of sleep are quite emotionally exhausted.

There are tremendous highs and lows at these conferences.  There are the highs that come from hearing about the good work that has been done and solutions that have worked well for many individuals and their families.  There are also lows as we are faced with struggles that many go through and problems–such as the need to care for an increasing adult population on the services–that are likely to escalate before things improve.  And there are the sad stories, such as the one about the presumably well meaning teacher who told a student who asked “too many” questions that “curiosity killed the cat.”  I wish that teacher would realize that curiosity also brought about the invention of Penicillin, the semi-conductor, and the wheel.  None of these inventors were cats.

With each new conference comes new ideas and inspiration.  We have a lot to work on.  Still, I am going to hibernate for a week before I will have the energy to get started.

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