When I first joined the SWC in December of 2000, and read about the annual conventions, I said to myself, and to others as well, "No way, I hate large group things! I can't hear in groups, and I'm very introverted." Six months later, I got brave and went to my first small-group SWC get-together at Jazzy's home in NJ. I had a wonderful time, but of course this was a very informal party, a small group, and it didn't last for 4-5 days!! I went to a few more parties, and finally by summer 2002, I was ready to be brave and "try" an SWC Convention. I drove down to Donna Penman's, in Pennsylvania (a 3.5 plus hour drive), all by myself. She and I then took the Amtrak to Alexandria, Virginia. We roomed together as well. Now, I'm not about to say I didn't have a good time, because that would be a lie. I had a great time. However, I was very shy, very held-back, didn't do a lot of mingling. I stuck pretty much to 4-5 people to hang out with all the time, and that was my "safe zone". I maintained a very, very low profile, to say the least. Never hung out that bar, never stayed up much past 11PM.
Last summer, I again got "brave" and ventured to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, for the SWC Convention. Donna and I met at the Chicago airport, and flew to Minnesota together. Again, we roomed together, and also this time Jo Gunnerson joined us as well (she had been Donna's roomie at the 2003 con!)! Now, that was fun, having two roomies! I got more involved by agreeing to be on the Host Committee, helping Donna make up bags for the attendees, and also helping her set up for the welcome reception! I also made sure I went on two large-group outings. By doing this, I found that I met more people, I mingled better, and felt much more at ease! I even stayed up until midnight mingling in the bar a couple of times!! Trust me, that's a 'biggie' for me to do this!!
Now, this summer I am out and out excited about this convention! As most of you know, it's in Clearwater Beach, Florida. I am flying down all by myself! I'll be meeting several close friends in person for the first time, meeting up with several for only the second or third time, seeing several more whom I've met more often than that (at Jazzy's and other get-togethers), and I will have, get ready for this, four roommates! Yes, five of us are sharing a room! I can't tell you how excited I am about this! The five of us are even working on giving ourselves a "name", such as Fabulous Five (sorta like the Beatles are the Fab Four, maybe we'll be the Fab Five lol!!). I think you'll all find me being the most sociable I've ever been. It's an introvert coming out of her shell big time! Oh, I'll also be helping this year with two committees, Donna's host committee again, and Andrea's silent auction committee! I'll be a busy bee, but that's what works for me! :-)
And why do I think I'll be more sociable than ever this year??? Well, I'm changing. I'm growing. I'm maturing. I'm becoming more comfortable in my own skin, hearing loss and all. And SWC is a big part of why this has happened!
I hope you all think hard about giving this year's convention a try. It's worth it just for the chance to grow from being with our hard of hearing friends, and developing the wonderful security in knowing there really *is* a place where we belong!