The Mourning After.

It doesn't take a PR person to know that after a big event, there's the inevitable big letdown. I call it the post-partum of event planning. I don't at all mean this nonchalantly toward parenthood; I'm aware that true post-partum is real, and serious, and nothing to joke around about.

But you work really hard on something, many times for up to a year in advance, and watch it come to fruition, and worry and fret that every little detail goes right, and then bam! It's over. I mean, you have a (hopefully) fabulous finished product when the "labor pains" are over, but all the prepping is just...over. Of course, a good event won't haunt you for 18 years to come, but still. The analogy can't last forever. ;-)

Even theatre friends get what they call the "post-show blues," so I know it's not just me. As a fellow event planner commented on Twitter the other night, we tend to to plan for everything but the letdown after events. I do try to schedule hair appointments, or massages, or other forms of pampering afterwards, but maybe I should lock myself in a room with "Steel Magnolias" and a carton of tissues or something instead.

At any rate -- and I'm fully aware that only girls will get this -- tonight, after my last event from the past few months' full of events, I was overdue for a good cry. So what was on TV when I finally found my hotel? Only the saddest episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" EVER. Sigh. But they worked. I bawled like a baby. I'm hoping I got it out of my system, but should probably stock up on Kleenex in case another episode presents itself.

For now, I'll just bask in the Busy Event Season afterglow, and prepare for all the physical and emotional tasks that are still to come. At least the ones I know about. :-)