Linus and Lucy . . .
I spent most of my day today working in my "office." This is the room in my home that has been left relatively untouched since having been a staging area during construction last year. The Sofa of Serenity had become the Sofa of Doom again and I just hadn't had the energy to work on things in here for many months.
For some reason, today was the day. :-) It's not completely clear in here, but it's a damn site better than it was. More things to go to The Second Chance Shop (yes, apparently I STILL have stuff to give away), and among them is this banner of Snoopy doing the Happy Dance in the rain. Can't help but smile to see it, and it takes me back nearly 20 years in a heartbeat.
It dates from May 1997 - and it's like new. The tags are still on it. It was purchased by an online friend whom I met in person for the first time at a scifi/fantasy convention called Syndicon. It was held in Maryland in May 1997.
There were three of us who had become fast friends - sort of a Three Musketeers gang of three - online. We were all writers - not professional writers, just people who liked to write, and we and quite a few others became friends on a message board in a popular online community. We were keen fans of Highlander: The Series.
I'd never been to anything like Syndicon before, but I wasn't worried. The three of us had planned our trip and flights so that we would arrive at approximately the same time at BWI. It's one of the beauties of the Internet back then that most of the people we met online were real people with real lives.
D was the first to arrive at BWI and he was waiting at my gate (you could do that back then :-) ) holding that banner. Then we went to another gate to meet T and the three of us headed to the convention hotel. Others of our online gang met us there and we had a rollicking good weekend.
There's a fish sticker, and a name tag, and there are five of us in that photo. One advised years ago that they did not want their image on the Internet so I've covered them up - but they are holding a bottle of Piper Heidsieck pink champagne. And there's that banner. All those things have stories behind them :-) I'm at the top right.
I've hauled the banner around for all this time - nearly 20 years. No one else from the old gang wanted it the last time I attempted to let it go - but I never quite could. Let it go. The Snoopy lights, which you can just see in the photo, have gone - either someone wanted those, or I donated them. But the banner - mostly it has remained folded up in the closet, but now it's time for it to move on to a new home. Someone will be happy to have it, I'm sure. I wished for awhile that I had a banner pole. My mom had one and she loved hanging her banners - she had one for every season. But somehow the banner pole disappeared - I don't ever remember having it here, and I've not been inclined to get a new one. And banners aren't nearly as popular now as they were back in the day.
And of the three of us Musketeers, one I've lost touch with, and another has passed away (far too young). Time marches on . . .
And so, as I continue the process of lightening my load here, the banner goes, but the tune remains. I and many others, I think, still think of it as "The Happy Dance."
It was my theme song. Still is, I guess. It's been the ring tone on every single cell phone I've ever had. I pony up the bucks to buy it again every time I change phones :-D It makes me happy. It always has - and who doesn't need a reason to smile? If I ever need a lift, I just play my ringtone.
Everyone else who hears my phone ring smiles, too. :-)
For some reason, today was the day. :-) It's not completely clear in here, but it's a damn site better than it was. More things to go to The Second Chance Shop (yes, apparently I STILL have stuff to give away), and among them is this banner of Snoopy doing the Happy Dance in the rain. Can't help but smile to see it, and it takes me back nearly 20 years in a heartbeat.
It dates from May 1997 - and it's like new. The tags are still on it. It was purchased by an online friend whom I met in person for the first time at a scifi/fantasy convention called Syndicon. It was held in Maryland in May 1997.
There were three of us who had become fast friends - sort of a Three Musketeers gang of three - online. We were all writers - not professional writers, just people who liked to write, and we and quite a few others became friends on a message board in a popular online community. We were keen fans of Highlander: The Series.
I'd never been to anything like Syndicon before, but I wasn't worried. The three of us had planned our trip and flights so that we would arrive at approximately the same time at BWI. It's one of the beauties of the Internet back then that most of the people we met online were real people with real lives.
D was the first to arrive at BWI and he was waiting at my gate (you could do that back then :-) ) holding that banner. Then we went to another gate to meet T and the three of us headed to the convention hotel. Others of our online gang met us there and we had a rollicking good weekend.
I've hauled the banner around for all this time - nearly 20 years. No one else from the old gang wanted it the last time I attempted to let it go - but I never quite could. Let it go. The Snoopy lights, which you can just see in the photo, have gone - either someone wanted those, or I donated them. But the banner - mostly it has remained folded up in the closet, but now it's time for it to move on to a new home. Someone will be happy to have it, I'm sure. I wished for awhile that I had a banner pole. My mom had one and she loved hanging her banners - she had one for every season. But somehow the banner pole disappeared - I don't ever remember having it here, and I've not been inclined to get a new one. And banners aren't nearly as popular now as they were back in the day.
And of the three of us Musketeers, one I've lost touch with, and another has passed away (far too young). Time marches on . . .
And so, as I continue the process of lightening my load here, the banner goes, but the tune remains. I and many others, I think, still think of it as "The Happy Dance."
It was my theme song. Still is, I guess. It's been the ring tone on every single cell phone I've ever had. I pony up the bucks to buy it again every time I change phones :-D It makes me happy. It always has - and who doesn't need a reason to smile? If I ever need a lift, I just play my ringtone.
Everyone else who hears my phone ring smiles, too. :-)
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