Back to school

Right now Andy and I are in Colorado Springs at a Ranch Management seminar. The kids are at home spending a few days with each set of grandparents. I really looked forward to this class and spending some time with Andy focusing on improving our business. It was quite an ordeal to get here (think roughest flight in my life, thinking I might lose my breakfast, five hours in the San Francisco airport, etc). That didn't stop us though... we made it, with smiles on our faces!

For those of you that don't know, we have a cow-calf operation and a pasture cattle (a.k.a. custom grazing) operation. We've been doing the pasture cattle thing for 10 years or so, but we recently completed our first year of the cow-calf operation. I think we are in a pretty good place with our businesses (especially compared to some people) but there is ALWAYS room for improvement. The title of this seminar is the "Ranching for Profit."

This is seven days, all day long, of "school." Yep, I am back in school. We even have homework in the evenings. I am really struggling right now (we just completed day 2) with wondering whether I should be here. Andy has been to this before, about nine years ago, so he knew what to expect. We have met some neat people from all over the United States and Canada.

Now, why am I struggling with whether I should be here? I feel like I play a very important role in our business, but I also feel like my main "job" is to be a mom. Part of me feels like I shouldn't be here, but should be at home with my kids instead. Maybe I just miss them, but I really feel guilty for being gone and missing their first week back to school after Christmas break. I have no doubt that the kids are in good hands, though.

This feels strange to me... I have never had a problem leaving the kids when we've been gone before. That is probably what feels the strangest to me. And I know that coming to this school is very important for our family and our business. I guess I need to keep telling myself that....