A Class on Mexico's Drug War...or Dr. Phil?

I'm typing this from my hotel room in Commerce (sort of Los Angeles), California after wrapping up teaching a full-day class on Mexico's drug war. This is the second time I've done this class for the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (better known as LA HIDTA), and it's the first work trip I've taken since I started writing this blog. So, I wanted to share a little about what the traveling experience is like for a consultant (like me) with MS.

First off, making these trips is always so much easier when it's a return trip. The people I work with already know my MS "issues," and are ready to happily accommodate my special needs. They hooked me up with disabled assistance through my Southwest Airlines reservation and an accessible room at the hotel. The training coordinator who picked me up at the airport already knew to keep the back seat of his truck empty so he could fit my walker. Little things like that really make me feel awesome :).

While I have taught this class before, this session was different because it was being recorded for future streaming (for sale) to law enforcement agencies across the country. HellOOOOO, passive income! But, I digress. Even though I'm just sitting there for eight hours, teaching a full-day class really sucks the life out of me by hour seven, so I made sure to have a healthy dinner and go to bed early for a full night's sleep. I rarely sleep well on the road and it didn't help that I had a 5:30am wake up, but I felt more decent than usual this morning.

When I arrived at the classroom, the set-up was slightly different than last time. Instead of having me in a normal office chair next to a desk, they had an eNORmous plush leather chair next to a small side table on a daïs, with a stack of my books and some random trophy on the table. Someone there asked jokingly if this was the drug war class or Dr. Phil, and I about lost it! It was very much a talk show set-up, but it definitely was THE most comfortable I have ever been as a trainer.

And I'm very happy to say the class went extremely well! It was almost a full house of 44 students, plus twenty more who logged in for a live video stream. Given that this class will be archived for use for at least six months, I'm thrilled that it was a great audience, I felt good, and only had a few speech lapses that I noticed.  This is when I stop in the middle of a sentence because I have to search very hard for the word I'm trying to use. Sometimes it's a very simple word and sometimes it's more complicated, but it can be embarrassing (for me, anyway) when my pause is too long. I have a feeling that to observers, it lasts a split second, and I'm just hyperaware of it. Maybe all people do it and it's not an MS thing at all, but I just notice it. I quickly forgot all about it after I sold all ten copies of my first book, Cartel, that I brought with me!

Afterwards I was pretty tired mentally, but my body was faring better than I expected. I don't exactly go crazy on these trips; I didn't have a rental car, but when I stay in a hotel with a restaurant, I rarely leave anyway. It was a luxury for me to just be able to go to my room, take a shower, get room service, and watch TV (or write a blog post) until bedtime. Then it's an early flight home tomorrow to get back to my family and help my husband prepare for our annual crawfish boil on Saturday evening. First, however, is my panel called "Conflict on the Border" at the Tucson Festival of Books early Saturday afternoon, so keep an eye out for that post later in the weekend!