Lessons Learned at BlogHer13

37

July 31, 2013 by Katia

The journey to BlogHer13 started with me kneeling in front of my sleeping husband’s side of the bed, silently and intently staring into his sleeping face trying to challenge the hypothesis that he was actually indeedly sleeping.  

Lessons from Leg I of BlogHer Journey:

1. This:

The writer’s left eye.

Is creepy.

And 2. Yes, he was asleep.

But I simply HAD to share the news with someone! I had just found out that one of my posts was selected as a Voice of The Year in the Op Ed category. I was not originally planning to attend BlogHer. I was still on mat leave, with an 11-month-old baby and a 4- year-old boy. I’m in Canada and this was in Chicago and merely fantasizing about attending immediately evoked the holy trinity of disturbing thoughts: GUILT, MONEY and MOTHERLY TRIBULATIONS. And then came the VOTY announcements and there was much talk and much #rejoicingandcongratulating all over the Twitter and somebody I don’t know said “see you in Chicago!” and I was all like “Oh, I’m going to Chicago? OK!”

Lessons From Leg II of BlogHer Journey

When somebody I don’t know says “see you in Chicago” I report!

And I go all out!

Lookit! Mama is on stage with the Queen!
Photo courtesy of the lovely Reb at http://www.thelifenostalgic.com/

So I booked a conference/hotel/airplane ticket and showed up.

I don’t know what Chicago thought of me, but boy, oh boy, Chicago.

Oh Chicago. I had no idea! #BlogHer13

— Katia DBE (@KatiaDBE) July 27, 2013

Chicago, I love you. And not platonically. #BlogHer13

— Katia DBE (@KatiaDBE) July 26, 2013

Lessons From Leg III of BlogHer journey

If I ever cheat on Toronto it will be with Chicago. And for the less vulgar reader, love at first sight does exist.

Now excuse me while I get a little sentimental. Does meeting your blog tribe (in blogging terms) or girlfriends (in IRL terms) for the first time count as love at first sight?

Lessons From Leg IV of BlogHer Journey

Forget the female cattiness clichés. When there’s 5000 of us sharing a space, including so many newbies, so many introverts stepping outside of their keyboard comfort zone we get our shit together and shape up and all of a sudden you see support, everywhere you look. It seeps through the words of the presenters sharing their knowledge, tips and personal stories of success during sessions. Support bumps into you unexpectedly and punches you in the throat when you ask someone you meet in the hallway to take a picture of you with your tribe and they sure do, but they also tell you everything you needed to know about self publishing and setting up Google alerts and you realize that it’s actually Kim and Jen whom you’ve been reading! Support radiates from newly created and web-generated friendships, when women you’ve been blog friends with perform little acts of kindness, like waiting for you at the door to a large conference hall so you don’t get lost, like taking your photos during a special moment, tagging and posting them, like sharing their own private experiences and a bag of snacks to soothe your tummy and soul, like telling you about the swag you can get for your kids and leading you to the exact stand where you’d find it, losing their cell phone in the process, like talking you up to another blogger, like telling you you look nice at a time when it’s really REALLY crucial to look nice.

These ladies did this for me:

It’s hard to make strong connections and then leave them behind, but it’s comforting to know that support comes in so many shapes and sizes and we don’t necessarily need to share a space to provide it to each other. But we totally rock when we do.

*********

Thank you for your friendship and for sharing your unique voices.

Stephanie at Mommy For Real

Natalie at The Cat Lady Sings

Kate at Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine

Linda at Ellroy Was Here

Jen at My Skewed View

Julie at Julie DeNeen 2.0

Sarah at Left Brain Buddha

Sandra at Apart From My Art

Kristi at Finding Ninee

Deb at Urban Moo Cow

Jessica at School of Smock

Jean at Mama Schmama

Sarah at Sadder But Wiser

Rachel at The Tao of Poop

Jane Marsh at Nothing By The Book

And some great dudes too:

Rich at That’s Life Sometimes

Clark at The Wakefield Doctrine

P.S. BlogHer also produced my best selfie in years. Since this post is already verging on narcissistic, who cares, I’m sharing, dammit.

I leave you with some ducks.