botias | Donna

One of the first people I saw at the con was James Marsters. I wandered the direction I saw him disappear in, not [just] because I'm a huge scary fan, but because I knew my roomies would be where he was going. I walked along the deck until I saw a row of doors with a woman plastered to each crack between. Mmmmm. JM leaves fans behind the way ghosts leave ectoplasm.

There were no available cracks so I sat down on a bench to watch the love. One of the women left her spot to come over and chat with me. So it was, that the first person I spoke to at the con was Donna known to some as 'Crazy Purple Lady'. She divided her time between me and the crack in the door. She shared with me her love of JM, during which it slipped that they would be retiring together this evening, her love of Jesus, Jesus' love for JM, and her JM picture collection. I smiled and nodded.

So she was one of my first con experiences and also part of the only thing about the con I really didn't like. The (I hate to say it) meanness of other con-goers toward her and other folks that, through some complicated equation in their heads, somehow came out as not nearly as cool as themselves. (We're at a fan convention people. Talk about shades of geek.)

I have an advantage in this area. A maternal Aunt V. has Down Syndrome so my mother had any such impulses educated out of her at an early age, and she was poised and ready to discourage this natural fear of, and prejudice toward, the odd and infirm in myself. Further, I have three small children. My 6yo told me yesterday, with absolute seriousness, that his workshop for creating new inventions was in the land of Christone, which is somewhere in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle. My 3yo's idea of fun is to have a cold pack dropped down his shirt so he can dance around and shriek until it falls out, and my 1yo thinks crinkly, glassine envelopes are the most engrossing thing ever.

So anyway, I hope folks find the patience, the compassion, the grace. That's what James would do.