A Week in Birmingham

As I mentioned in my last post, I had some packing to do because I was heading on a work trip.  I had a grantee meeting and then a conference to go to in Birmingham, AL.  I left Monday and came back on Friday.  I am too cheap to buy internet in the room, so I didn’t have a chance to blog.  Plus, it was a super busy week for me – lots of meetings, community events, conference sessions, and evening events.

The best thing?  My aunt flew all the way out to Birmingham from Arizona to watch Evan.  Yup, I brought him on my work trip.  He’s a big fan of working with me.  He told me so himself.  My aunt got to spend the week with him and I didn’t have to leave him at home. 

It was the best choice ever.  Evan makes friends everywhere we go and everywhere I went, people kept asking me how the baby was.  He’s a better networker than I am.  I am pretty sure my aunt fell in love with him, which isn’t hard.

He fell in love with her too.  He was so sad when we had to say goodbye.  It was awesome seeing my aunt and chatting with her during lunch, dinner, and after Evan went to sleep.  However, I was super excited to go to Birmingham because it’s the 50th anniversary of the Civil Right Movement and I was really hoping to get some sightseeing in.  I had really wanted to go to the Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church, and Kelly Ingram Park.  They were all close to the hotel and important aspects of the Civil Rights Movements and who knows when I’ll get back there.  I had stuff to do all week but had a few hours on Thursday I was hoping to devote to being a tourist.  However, then this showed up.

A huge storm.  And some tornados.  Pretty much everything was closed and schools were canceled.  We were going to try and go before the storm showed up, but it started looking a bit worrisome outside.

So, we stayed at the hotel instead.  I did have an event I had to go to for work in the evening though.

Harry Belafonte’s induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.  I didn’t know who Harry Belafonte was before I was told that I had to go to this.  I looked him up though and read a bit about him.  Luckily, before his induction they played Sing Your Song – a documentary about him.  He is a pretty amazing person.  Then he came out and did a short Q&A.  He is still very sharp, even if he is 86 years old.

I was in the second row, so I had great seats.  It was a fun evening.  I even got to shake his hand on his way out.  It was a good night.

The tornados never came and the next day was beautiful.

 

However, we packed up our stuff and headed out.  It was sad saying goodbye to my aunt but I’m so glad she had a chance to get to know my little Evan.  He fell asleep on her shoulder every night at dinner – and he showered her with his million dollar hugs.