Wizards, Princesses, and Orange Peels

After a long, five-day marathon of meetings in Orlando, Florida, Kelly and I are finally trekking back to Milwaukee. In fact, I’m typing this as our plane cruises over the Midwest. With only 24% battery power left, I’m curious to see how extensive this recap will be…

Since Friday, the Gathering planning team has been meeting to continue shaping CHOSEN. We met at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, a massive palace towering over I-Drive. Kelly and I are on the Gathering’s Media Team, more specifically the Copy Team. That means we write a lot. Our main projects are The Peel (a daily newsletter for Adult Leaders), the onsite web, and CH07 (yes that name’s for real. After the Gathering all participants will get this book, which retells the experience via visuals and an “epistle” to the youth at home.)

Whew…that was enough preamble. Here’s what I really wanted to blog about: the weird people who come to Orlando. Besides Gathering planners, our hotel also hosted:

1. A Doll Convention – People from afar brought their dolls to share and exhibit. Sounds fairly normal, right? Well, these people are a bit obsessed with their dolls. And by obsessed, I mean THEY PRETEND THE DOLLS ARE REAL PEOPLE. Ask Kelly about her elevator experience.

2. Princesses – I didn’t find out much about this one, but I shared a fair number of elevator rides with middle-aged women wearing Matel tiaras.

3. New Agers– Okay this one beats all. There were hundreds of adults roaming the Rosen trying to find their “inner wizard.” One guy, Kelly overheard, has found his inner wizard four times at these conventions. Yup, it was cult. For fear of my blog getting hexed, the group’s name shall remain nameless.

My battery life didn’t quite outlast the plane ride, so I had to wrap this up at home. If you want to know about the weekend, let me know and I’ll gladly chat your ear off :-)

Cheers, everyone.