Well, I arrived home late last night (UK time) after travelling around 20 hours and 3 flights due to the bad weather. I got confused when the newspapers on the ground seemed to be reading a day later than they should! Then I remembered where the day had dissapeared to! LOL I still don't have my lugguage back, and suspect it will take them several days to locate which country it ended up in after all the sudden changes of itinerary. LOL But it was all worth it to meet everyone.

It was so very awesome meeting everyone. I've not stopped talking about you all to my friends and people I live with. One person even said that they thought you are all a very diverse group of people! You feel like my family, and - in some ways - it's so very depressing to be back home knowing it will be a while until we are together again.

Missing you all, and will definitely love to be at the next MOM!

~Rog

This event was different then those we have had before, at least for me. Maybe it was the rain which fell the entire time we were together, I felt closer to everybody, more like a family reunion then people meeting for the first time.

That bonding that took place only fuels the desire for the next MOM when we can meet again for good food, good drink, good friendship, and lots of hugs.

A special thanks for the ones that made it happen and most of all to Bobbie, without him this would never have happened.

Thank you,

River

Much thanks to Bobbie not only for planning but for e-mail updates and of course good food. Oh and I enjoyed River's pancakes. Their reputation is deserved.

Also thanks goes to Jesus for transporting us to and fro. When you are in a strange city with a poor sense of direction it is nice to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Also flying into a strange airport and seeing a friendly face is very nice. Paolo was there with Jesus and it was a pleasure to meet him. I have been in awe of him for awhile and I must say after getting to know him my respect has deepened. Next we saw thefraj walking towards us. I am sure I was grinning ear to ear. I have talked to him many times but so enjoyed meeting him in person.

Kristoff has already covered many of the events so I will not repeat them here. I must thank him for opening the convent to us and making us feel so welcome. We were well fed and of course entertained. Much thanks for the tour of the city that will always be remembered. I should warn you I still have you in my cell phone and I intend to use it. I was very impressed by the home you refurbished. You are very talented. It was a true pleasure meeting you.

Talula and River also opened their homes for us. I want to thank them for all the work and making us feel at home. This was my first MOM but I felt as welcome as those who had been there before. If you have not been to a MOM before and worry that you would not feel comfortable believe me you will be welcomed. T and R are very interesting with many great stories to share. I look forward to the next time I am in the area. Summer of course.

Of course all the members that attended deserve my thanks for sharing of themselves and allowing me to share a little of myself. I enjoyed meeting everyone. What a kind and interesting group of people. I look forward to seeing you all in the future. If your travels bring you to Central Ohio please contact me as I would love to see you again.

I must also thank thefraj for sharing a room with me. We had some great talks and I am looking forward to many more. I was a bit of a eunuch mom at times so thank you for putting up with me.

Until the next MOM I will miss my family.

I have more thanks to give but will be done privately.

I've been to a number of the MOMs before this one. The Minneapolis gathering was the best to date! Bobbie has worked hard to create this tradition of local (and larger) gatherings of the clan. The local crew, between the Convent and the Mother Ship, did an outstanding job as well.

A MOM really IS more like a family reunion than any other analogy I can think of. Every one of them seems to begin with everyone hugging people whom they have previously only met on line. By the end of the gathering, everyone is promising to meet again soon.

I am continually amazed by the diversity of the people who attend, and by how uniformly wonderful they all are.

I'm looking forward to the next gathering of the clan.

I'm so sorry that I had to pass this gathering up. We have been trying to finish packing and moving to our new farm place. And then we also had a major medical emergency involving our son. He is now hospitalized. so It was a good thing that I was not out of town that weekend anyway....

Thank you all for a Great time, meeting so many interesting and fun people to talk with.

Bobbie did a great job organizing this event (MOM his idea) and the help and support given by everyone.

Tome

Hi all,

I guess I had the worst travel experience of anyone else -- my return to Panama was certainly eventful! I did not get home for 3 days, finally arriving early yesterday evening. Missed connections, changes in schedules due to weather problems, etc., really caused me to stress out. The only thing that saved the day was the really good memories from my first ever MOM.

While I would like to mention and thank everyone by name, I would only end up missing someone very important, and so I will only say a big, collective, all encompassing "thank you" to everyone -- those who attended as well as (especially) those who made this event happen. I really enjoyed meeting all, and felt like I was at a family reunion rather than going to meet people. What a wonderful and diverse group that I had the privilege of meeting.

With love,

BudleyBare

P.S., I am in panic mode right now as I leave early next Monday morning for my 2.5 month trip around the world. I did, thankfully, get beyond the cold that I contracted while at the MOM. This is likely to be my last posting until sometime in November.

I need to mention this as it's worthwhile to at least me.

A lot of time when I'm talking to whoever - coworkers, friends, whoever - I always have my mind racing with thoughts that often confuse what Im trying to say.

While I was at the MoM my mind was just clear. I said what I wanted to. My mind wasn't being bothered with confusion.

That is all.

Ken and I greatly enjoyed the time that we spent at the meeting, and we both are extremely happy to have met many new faces as well as see again many we have met before.

The entire week we were there gave us a lot of fun memories. We got to spend time with so many great people and of course eat a lot of great food River's pancakes were excellent as always, and the other meals we had were good as well.

I was fortunate enough to take part in the events of both Friday and Saturday night, and I definitely had a great time. Not something I get to do very often.

I got to sit down and play WoW with River for the first time, and he introduced me to new parts of it that I had not experienced before. It should be enough to keep me entertained for quite some time.

I had a lot of fun spending time with each and everyone, and I cannot wait until it happens again! Thanks to all who made this possible as well as all who participated!

incuse (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:10 pm I need to mention this as it's worthwhile to at least me.

A lot of time when I'm talking to whoever - coworkers, friends, whoever - I always have my mind racing with thoughts that often confuse what Im trying to say.

While I was at the MoM my mind was just clear. I said what I wanted to. My mind wasn't being bothered with confusion.

That is all.

I understand completely what you are saying. When you can truly be yourself and not have to be guarded about giving up information that you want to be secret your mind is not working double time to filter what you are going to say next.