I have returned.
It was one hell of a rollercoaster ride and those that I managed to speak to for more than one minute may have heard me use that exact phrase.
Britmums Live was, for me, adrenaline fuelled, fast and furious, social whirlwind, tearful, funny, exhausting, muscle taxing, memory stretching, note taking, snapping, clapping, hugging, kissing, overwhelming, befuddling and the maddest 36 hours I have ever experienced.
I have probably chatted to and read blogs of at least 100 of the attendees and feel that I 'know' them to varying degrees but I have only met a handful in real life. The few I had met I was delighted to see again and loved spending time with them. Those I had not met before, but recognised from avatars and photos on their blogs, are probably still recovering from my hugs and over enthusiastic greetings, given they would not recognise me from my own avatar. For any bruise inadvertently inflicted in these unsolicited greetings I apologise.
Before I went to BritMums Live I had written a list of about 40 people I really wanted to say hello to/squeeze to death in overenthusiastic hugs. I managed to meet about 30. But most of those, it was a meeting too brief, passing faster than a mayfly's courtship. Speed-dating for bloggers. Only faster. No sooner had I said hello, inflicted a bruise, rendered them speechless in shock, when I spotted a name tag on the boob of another familiar avatar. Fearful of losing them and not having another opportunity to find them amongst the 500 other people there, I dashed to say hello, only later registering that several people I enthusiastically grabbed hadn't even heard of my blog.
Then there were bloggers in little impenetrable huddles, impervious to my head bobbing up and down just within their line of vision, trying to catch their eye to say hello. A few, a rare few, didn't want to say hello. They had gone to BritMums Live to meet their established friends. They had their heads down, and tweeted their way through the conference. Sorry I didn't get to say hello, but I probably didn't miss much.
There were also some bloggers who weren't on my list. No offence to them, but I just hadn't come across them before or tweeted with them. And what a pleasure it was to meet them. If it was possible to have a highlight, this was probably it. The chance meetings, chats over lunch or coffee, and new blogger friendships made.
I learnt a lot. About blogging, about twitter and blogging friends, and about myself.
Blogging first. Just as well I learnt something about blogging. It was a bloggers conference after all. There were a couple of sessions that, frankly, were deathly dull and inspired me to seek out coffee. BUT on the whole I learnt stuff. Which is good. Just need to put it into practice.
Friends. Is it right to call people you only know virtually as friends? They tell me stuff. I tell them stuff. We LOL and !!! and {{}} and xxx. But in real life they can be different to your expectations. They can be all of what you expected but then a lot more. Or not quite as much as you expected. But they are the fingers typing and the personalities commenting and, back in a virtual world, they make me happy.
Myself. I am a sop. Or possibly just hormonal. I got through some tissues this weekend. Mostly for snot related needs but also for tears. I heard some words, which I had previously read, but spoken by the person who wrote the words, out loud, and I cried. Actually I sobbed. Words delivered form the heart made me cry. Also words delivered from the funny bone made me cry, in a "oh please stop now or I will wet myself" kind of way. Definitely a highlight.
I will go back next year. It was professionally organised, with relevant workshops, with interesting speakers on the whole and free wine.
But next year I will go back with different expectations.
