Post Deepmind Darkwood

As I sit here knitting on my day off, I look back at this weekend with a huge smile on my face.

I'm never sure just how much I can talk about the events which I attend. So often the most meaningful parts of any event are also the most private. I simply don't know if I have permission to discuss details that were so meaningful to me; I very much want to respect others' privacy.

Yet there is so much I want to share about this weekend. I want to talk about the discussion after the Power Animal meditation. I want to give my thoughts on the not-quite-Samhain ritual out by the fire pit. I want to talk about the confidences shared afterwards when we came in from the brief rain shower. I want to talk about how comfortable I felt. I want to talk about the cheerful energy, about the way everyone seemed to just flow with each other. If I thought there was a way I could do so without breaking privacy I would.

Instead, those words above will simply have to do. They will have to be the taste I give the world of how wonderful it was. They will have to express the joy in the calm and the re-centering. And maybe that's good enough. Maybe that's all I need to do, right now, to honor the others there and the emotions I felt.

I will say, however, that the strength of this community is growing and building. More and more people are finding value in each other, in sharing expertise, in learning from others' mistakes and in drawing inspiration from their fabulous successes. I think that maybe the most important thing of all: the sure and certain knowledge that we are not alone. There are other people out there who "get it" and who are happy-no, joyous-to continue to form community, to learn and play and grow.

If-gods forbid-I was to get hit by a bus tomorrow, I would feel good about this community and my contribution to helping you grow. Things are so very different from 10 years ago, when the only gathering sites were IRC, the Yahoo! chat rooms, and the MC stories messageboard. 10 years ago, even picking up the phone to call someone else in the community was considered a brave and daring act. Now play happens on a frequent basis.

I honestly don't know what the next decade will bring. 10 years ago, Deepmind Darkwood would have been just a fantasy. NEEHU would have been beyond imagination. Yet these things did happen, are happening, and will go on. For that, I am deeply and profoundly grateful.