Last night we got a barrage of Tess photos from mom. She is looking so cute and is clearly doing great! I’d held up pretty well until then, but I’ve been sneaking longing peeks at those pics all day.

My presentation on targeted selling for language services took place this morning, and went quite well. My favorite moment was having an experienced ATA division head tell me she’d had a huge breakthrough due to my session. Dave was quite popular as well after I mentioned he proofreads my materials and had the misfortune of telling me my résumé didn’t show if I’d ever graduated from all of the schools I attended! I’m tickled this impacted people the way I’d hoped. I love talking to people afterward, hearing their experiences and answering questions. As a translator and direct client (I hire translators directly instead of through an agency), I’m as curious about their lives as freelancers as they are about mine as a corporate employee. Cross-pollination here is awesome.

Still, all of the energy I’d been pointing at my session is now focused on Tess and China, in that order. I’m so excited for vacation an exploration, and yet I’m jealous that Dave will be holding our daughter Sunday night. I may have been subjecting contacts here to baby pictures. It happens.

The discomfort of throwing yourself into a new experience/culture is always challenging, and to go from networking and learning to a whole new world may be refreshing and exhausting in the extreme! Still, these experiences make me more passionate about what I do, which is magnified by the thought of Tess someday roaming the world in a similar fashion. What will she think of the ocean the first time she sees it? What about the first time she hears an unfamiliar language? Will it inspire her to learn more words or not phase her in the least? Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Seeing the world from an undefinable perspective opens my eyes to more details, things I may have missed before I considered the Tess effect. So now what? Dave and I enjoy our new acquaintances and this gorgeous town, I seek out more translators, and I gear up for an awesome adventure – taken on behalf of my kid. After all, I need stories to inspire her with! 🙂