bad la leche league leader!

i went to the regional la leche league conference on friday night and saturday, and was completely and unapologetically self-indulgent! i booked a hotel room by myself on friday night, even though i could easily have left my house saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. and arrived in plenty of time for the first session. then, i shamelessly skipped all the leader meetings/celebrations (lll is 50 years old this year) and instead stayed in my room, eating junk food from the vending machine, drinking wine, watching csi and law and order reruns, and knitting. i slept for eight uninterrupted hours, had breakfast delivered to my room, went to four really interesting sessions, talked to almost no one but the one phila co-leader who was at the conference (and whom i really like), and then left. bliss.

i have to admit that the leaders at the eastern pennsylvania la leache league conference sort of scare me. have you ever heard the joke about how pennsylvania has philadelphia on one end, pittsburgh on the other, and alabama in the middle? yeah. like that. when i went to the conference two years ago, just before the 2004 election, the hotel parking lot was a sea of george bush bumper stickers. i kid you not.

i am very ambivalent about la leche league. and not just because the (catholic homeschooling mom of six, not to stereotype or anything) mid-penna leader in charge of leader applicants at the time i applied gave me a hugely hard time. apparently being a lesbian and an adoptive mom makes one categorically suspect when it comes to leadership. but that's not the main source of my ambivalence (just a lot of bitterness, lol!) -- maybe i'll blog about that more some other time. still and all, becoming a leader seemed to me at the time -- and still does, to be honest -- the best way to prepare for the sort of breastfeeding advocacy that i think may become my career someday. and going to the sorts of sessions i went to saturday confirms that for me; they were awsome, and the ibclc's (international board certified lactation consultants) who led those sessions -- lll leaders all of them, some for 35 or 40 years -- were truly inspiring.

still, no apologies for holing away in my hotel room and knitting! it was just what i needed, and i think i shall do it more often.