I just got home early Tuesday morning from Minneapolis and I’m still excited from the MamaGathering, I had a GREAT time. There were so many wonderful women I got to finally meet, and some women I met I didn’t know at all from the various mama boards who are ultra-cool. I loved it! The kids and I stayed in town with a wonderful mama, Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, Saturday & Sunday nights & Monday, so I missed all the hotel interaction but got to see some of the town, and meet a couple of her friends, really nice and cool people.

It took much longer to get there than I anticipated, I had forgotten how many stops one requires when traveling with kids. It’s been awhile since I traveled any kind of distance with the kids by myself. So I was running into the hotel at 9:45 Saturday morning, got the kids situated, and I was off to do my workshop, which started at 9:30. It went well if I do say so myself and Maia Rossini, who I did the workshop with, is the bomb, she is so cool and creative and smart and friendly, she just knocked me out with her warmth and good humor.

Saturday night I got asked to read for the girl-mom play, which of course I was too thrilled and honored to do. The last I’d heard the reading was going to be on Friday and we weren’t able to leave until then, so I was kinda bummed thinking I was going to miss seeing it. But they moved it to Saturday and one person couln’t make it, so they asked me!! Too cool. I really enjoyed it. We went after Nina Utne’s talk, she does the Utne Reader (which was cool, she was so enthusiastic!) and
Ariel Gore’s reading from her book Whatever, Mom, which was funny! and great! and so right on! I think she and I must have the same daughter, tee hee.

Sunday I made it to one workshop, we all got up kinda late but my kids had a great time playing and hanging out with our host’s little boy. We got back to the hotel by lunchtime and I got to hang out with more moms until the afternoon workshop I went to. My daughter found 2 other teenagers to hang out with so she was finally happy; I think she was alittle unnerved by all the babies and little kids running around. After that we went and hung out at Loring Park, which has a sweet pond and a wading pool and several play areas; I could not get the kids out of that wading pool. So I ended up missing the reading at Arise bookstore which kinda sucked, especially since I got to meet Anne Elizabeth Moore who wrote the Hey Kidz! book and she invited me to read with her. I called the bookstore and she was cool about it, she’s a sweetheart. While the kids were vegging out in the wading pool I talked with some local moms, told them about the Gathering and Hipmama, Mamaphonic,Girlmom, and of course my sites and books and zines. I think I made some converts, ha. They were really nice and we exchanged email and numbers, I will keep in touch with them. I finally got the kids going around 830.

It was an awesome weekend! Minneapolis is a beautiful city and I wish we could have stayed longer. I know there were other mamas I wanted to meet and didn’t get a chance to, it seemed like there just wasn’t enough time. I’d go to talk to somebody and stop to say hi to somebody else and the next thing I knew, a half hour had flown by and the other person had left.

I do wish more people had been interactive. I know there were moms who, if I hadn’t said anything to them, they wouldn’t have said anything to me. Which kinda freaked me out; it seems like I always have to be the first one to speak, to break the ice. It’s not like I’m some super-celebrity or unapproachable or whatever. But once I said hi they smiled and talked, so that was cool.

I hear next year is going to be in Chicago!

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