Can't stay up ALL Night!

The gift of the BE is twenty new friends. And most of them are blogging and emailing and chatting to beat the band right now. It's fifteen minutes past my bedtime and I don't want to go to sleep because I am afraid I'll miss something. (We call it "Family Reunion Syndrome" at my house.)

I said this in another spot, but it can't be said too often. When you have online friends they are wonderful. I have prayed for these folks. I've tried to cheer them and cheer for them. I've laughed and cried and sighed with them. But now they are no longer two dimensional. As I told Will Smama, the package got fuller. As a result, the things they have written over the last few days have been much deeper. Much truer. And I can feel the blogged hugs because I know what the real hugs feel like.

I can hear their laughs and their lovely voices. Such a blessing I had not imagined when I made my deposit six months ago.

But now I really should go to bed. Tomorrow is another day of work. And I do need to do some work. Although it will be hard not to check a few blogs in between the tasks of the day!

Bloggers are decent people at bottom

So on NPR today, this was the quote from some guy who apparently gets negative feedback from bloggers, "...even bloggers are decent people at bottom." The guy's a political commentator and clearly he doesn't know the RevGalBlogPals. Beyond decent! Just fabulous people!

I had a great time on the BE aka The Big Event with my RevGalBlogPals. Didn't even need to leave the dock in New Orleans. We could have just sat on the aft deck and I would have been happy. The scenery was just icing on the delicious cake!

Since getting back, lots of folks have wanted reports on what the BE was all about. It was about JOY! Pure joy. I am so glad I got out of my midwestern, Norwegian, mildly introverted box and went on this trip. All the extra supply preaching to pay the way was well worth it!

Some highlights were definitely...

• Charbroiled oysters at the oyster bar with GracebytheSea. Also enjoyed the raw oysters and the melt in your mouth oysters in my not to be believed gumbo at Emeril's. A food previously described as slimey or boiled erasers now has a very joyful spot in my heart.


• A Joy Tattoo! We were all given a word to meditate on during the trip. Mine was joy. Couldn't get a spray paint tattoo of joy- so I took the one shown above- energy. The joy of the trip has given me energy. Hope my boss appreciates my new artwork on Sunday. Hee hee hee! If it washes off before then, I may color it in with a sharpy marker! Several us went under the paintgun. Mine is the one on the wrist. Will Smama's is the real one!


• Three martinis and twelve olives! This was my quote for the night before we went home. I slept real well and I remember, Cheeshead, I remember! What a lovely, lovely night!


• The back of the boat. We sat on the aft deck in the afternoon alternately amusing and scaring off other cruisers. It was a blessed place and very close to the soft serve ice cream.


• Learning about geocaching. The Vicar of Hogsmeade is a geocacher. It's like a scavenger hunt with a GPS. She took a group out on Cozumel and they FOUND it! I'm thinking we all need to hide geocaches on our church signs.


• Mexican food in Mexico. Fabulous food with Songbird, RevDrKate and our own English rose. Still can't believe she came all the way from England! What a treat!


• Laughing. Crying. Listening. Talking. Reading. It was all good!