I become easily overwhelmed these days, and when so many people ask, with true kindness, “How’s Gerry…” my answer of, “He’s good, but in pain – ” begins to sound mechanical and I don’t want that.
Home for a few days has been heaven. The air is cool, warm in the sun, and the nights are delicious. We had some dramatic thunder last night – exciting if you’re in a safe place, not being flooded (poor Iowa – if you know anyone there, or if you’re from there, visit Safe & Well to register to let folks know you’re okay…)
I’m wrapping up some knitting, finishing a project for IK, just hanging out and trying to rework my schedule for Fall. One thing about TNNA is that a LOT of folks approached me to teach, so I have to get back to many of them. If you spoke with me and haven’t heard back, please do feel free to email me!
Gerry had a spectacular weekend volunteering at the National Conference for Media Reform, doing something he loved AND doing so much more than he had in over a year! What a far cry from his last TV gig, running teleprompter for the local Fox affiliate in NY. He was floating on air when I got home, feeling very proud of himself, and with some of his old confidence back.
At the MM Support group meeting yesterday, a fellow from the IMF spoke about how much hope there is, how in just the last year so much has changed in the way doctors look at MM, and some are even contemplating a time when this disease is seen as a chronic illness, not a terminal sentence. I’ve updated our Red Carpet Convertible page – the pattern is still available as a free download, but now the donation recipient is the IMF.
All in all, this has been one of the best weeks we’ve had – separately and together – since we’ve moved to St. Paul! Coming off of a rough few weeks, it was very welcomed!
On to Virginia!
I’m going to be at Purljam next weekend, held by Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg, VA. I’m SO excited to teach, to see folks and to meet Jared and Cornelia face to face! Plus, Virginia is just an extremely nice place to be.
After I finish at PJ, I’ll be heading up to Washington to teach for a day at Stitch DC. It’s a drive, but when I refigured my airfare it works out to be about the same (even with gas included – that fare to Roanoke was a killer!), and I’ve wanted to teach at this shop for the longest time!
TNNA WRAP
Everyone’s writing their TNNA wrap ups, and mine is long in coming – but I’m not as on-the-stick as I’d like to be (that, plus the choruses of “Mom!”, “Honeeeeeey!” and “Mommy!” that greeted me in the baggage claim and haven’t ended yet, have kept me off the blog for a few days…)
I want to wait yet another day to get all of the names, booths, companies, etc., clear in my head so I can write about them intelligently and get the web links right. At this point I’m still a little brain mushy. Yesterday at the Multiple Myeloma support group meeting someone took a picture of the group and I had a moment of confusion when I thought I was back at TNNA and someone, somewhere, always seemed to have a camera ready.
I know that my favorite part of the weekend was just sitting in the bar/lobby of the Hyatt with a group of friends, each of us computing on our Mac’s, trying to get some work done or open email. I spent a lot of time alone this TNNA, back in my room, driving around or going for walks (in HOT Columbus) I think I needed the space.
I feel like I spent most of my time either hanging out at the Stitch Cooperative Booth (1056) or aimlessly walking aisles. I promised folks I’d return, only to remember when I was half way home. I felt disconnected – not unpleasantly – but I didn’t feel entirely AT the show.
I was consumed with giving away 120 copies of Knit with Courage, review copies, to anyone who had shown kindness or interest in Gerry’s condition. 120 was not enough. I didn’t think I’d run out, but thank heaven I left a stash in my rental car or I wouldn’t have had any to give away to some nice folks at the airport.
I’ve read that in book promotion each book given away means 10 sales. Maybe. I wanted to get this to folks who really GET the whole knitting-as-a-way-to-deal-with-crisis, and where better than at TNNA?