I would have to say that one of the best things for me was to see
people. I didn't really come to do much spanking, and compared to
most there I'm sure I was on the lower end of the list of activity.
75% of why I came was to see folks that I already know and value
in real life, and most of the rest was to meet some that I know online.
All of that happened just as I hoped and so the weekend was a great
success.
sarah and I have been tight friends with Amy and Rick for awhile,
and shared a suite with them during the event. Real life friends
that we connected with were pure_sass (sandy here), dotty, aurora, and
naughtynature. New meetings of special note where Pagan and her
hubby, Squire. Pagan and I are both INTJ-types from the Myers-Briggs
Personality Profile system. These are exceedingly rare types, and
most folks don't understand us unless you happen to be one. So I was
eager to meet Pagan. A surprise--a real surprise--was that Squire
was the same M-B type as sarah, an ISTJ!! When I learned that I
started hearing the Twilight Zone music in the background. I very
much regret that I didn't catch some time to sit sown and talk with
Pagan for awhile. More online friends that were finally met real
life were nightowww, swflbrat, jeoffrey, Bailey, bits, Jaxspanker,
anabel, tigger & hubby, Beachley and Mr. B, shewolf, sinny, Ian (The
London Tanner) and.....oh, more, but I'm just drawing a blank. Too
tired and early in the morning.
sarah and I scored a few implements at the vendor fair. A vintage
razor strap (which was promptly broken on her on a visit to
nightowww and swflbrat's room) was a nice find. A light leather
strap and a much heavier doubled and sewn belt were picked up from
The London Tanner. A sorority paddle will make a nice vanilla-
appearing adornment on my wall (and has already made found its way
to a certain short someone's bottom).
It was nice to meet Coach Daniels and Elizabeth Burns (Dr. Daniels
and Veronica Daniels) formerly from the Real Spankings site. We had supper
with them on one night, sat at the bar for some conversation on
another, and visited them at their suite party. Nice couple. They
are starting their own D/s DD commercial site, The Spanking Couple,
and used this event as the "official" launch.
We saw some "famous" faces, including the Daniels above, but also
Bailey and Nikki Flynn, both of whom are well known from commercial
websites and various video products. Nikki was accompanied by her
gentleman from England, an academic with whom I had an interesting
discussion.
More people than I suspected recognized the names "ZED and ginger"
(our other set of ID's in the spanking world, and the ones that sarah
and I use most often as a couple together). That was nice. I guess
we're not totally anonymous in the spanking
world. I may have been a bit surprised that I wasn't gunned down
after people learned who I was, considering some of the heated
feelings that have emerged from forums on other boards when I used
to engage in political and social threads.
And speaking of, I got to spank my favorite liberal once again.
There's just a sense of....justice in that.
sarah and I were walking down the hallway Saturday night. She was in
an ankle length skirt with a lightly pink, lacy top, and a red and
white set of thin ribbons in her hair, honoring the Valentine theme
for the night. A gentleman there, a rather tall one that I didn't
know previously (and still don't know his name/ID) suddenly stopped,
turned to sarah, and said, "I haven't told you, but you should know
that you look really nice!" What a gracious thing of him to do.
I try to tell sarah all the time that I think she's
beautiful. She just gives my words a perfunctory "Pffft!" and turns
away, and attributes my opinion to the blindness of love. So it was
good for her to hear it from an unknown party. I wish I had shook
his hand now.
I especially enjoyed sharing the party and experience with sarah.
It's so rewarding to have that special person who just makes it all
a little bit better than it would have been.
The sleep deficit was certainly felt! We stayed up late into the
nights, and I, at least, was up early in the mornings. On the
flights home we both found doze time. sarah wrapped her arms around
one of mine and laid her head on my shoulder. I laid my head back
against the seat and lightly snoozed.
When we left Tampa it was in the 60's. When we landed it was 22 F!
Saying that we had returned to the cold world of reality was a more
than a figurative statement.