Imlebideli

So I’m recovered. I survived JournalCon. I’m over my illness, back up to speed, and thought I should write something about the event that kept Dreama and me hopping for the last few months.

And so I sat down and realized that I don’t have a terrible lot to say about it.

I met a lot of people that I really liked, which I hadn’t truly prepared myself for. In truth, I was so tied up in the logistics of everything that I didn’t take time to think about who would be here and what I’d think of them. The more I read, and the more that Dreama told me, and the more that went on, I didn’t know what to think.

But I was pleasantly surprised. Amanda and Ryan were the first in and both were lively and talkative and fun even at 1 in the morning. Next I met Beth and Jen who kept me company in the hotel lobby while we waited for additional arrivals, and were both lovely conversationalists.

After our prolonged doubled airport run (I cannot begin to fathom what caused the traffic to be what it was. It was outrageous. I can’t remember ever seeing anything like it.) and a quick trip home to get ready for dinner, I was ready to meet the rest of the writers I’d been hearing about for weeks and months on end. At dinner, I quite enjoyed the company of Carrie and her husband Eric, who were sweethearts, and Renee — what a chick!

As the weekend passed (abbreviated for me, unfortunately) I also had an opportunity to talk with Columbine, Mary, Brian, Diane and the darned cute Greg, who I was thrilled to meet after hearing his name (from an unnamed source) for the last couple of years. (I’m glad he didn’t force me to fly down to Texas to kick his butt.)

Saturday’s trek to lunch posed a fun photo-op as we passed through the Columbus Day parade. To clear up any confusion, the man whose hand I shook was the City Controller, Tom Flaherty. We do know each other, I didn’t just steer our party of happy JournalCon-ers into the path of a somewhat perplexed gladhanding politician. In any case, I think a few others did get the smile and shake from Tom, but that’s really his style. (He’s not up for re-election this year, anyway.)

Unfortunately, my JournalCon experience was cut short by my illness, which began on Saturday and was in full bore by Saturday night. As I was walking to my car, Patrick stopped to make sure that I’d be all right to get to home. He’s such a sweetie pie.

And so are Terry and Stephen. (I wore my Diary-X shirt today, and thought of both.) They were funny, delightful and a pleasure to spend time with.

So it was a success, and the reports that I’ve seen and read tell me that I missed a lot of good things on Sunday that I wish I’d been able to be there for. Would I do it again? Probably not. But I’m really glad I could be a part this first time ’round. What a kick!