Tales from the Shark Tank

For assorted reasons, a great many things that had been integral parts of my life have been set aside over the past ten years or so. There were lots of reasons: lack of time, lack of money, unpredictable schedule, and a child with neurological wiring problems. One of those things was attending science fiction conventions. So when we received an invitation to a small con I shall not identify because attendance is by invitation only, my first reaction was simply wistful. Then I thought about it. It was to be in Chicago, only an hour’s drive away. It would be exceedingly small, allowing our severely crowd-averse boychik to get used to the whole concept on a more reasonable scale. All in all, we thought it was worth the experiment.

I am pleased to report that it was both a grand success from a parental perspective and a whole lot of fun from a personal one. Our son was introduced to a little girl who’s wired much as he is, and they promptly made friends. He was willing to go into the next room (the whole floor was devoted to the con, so it was safe) without me having to stay with him when the crowd got to be a bit much for him. He told us when he needed to retreat; we had not a single meltdown or tantrum the entire trip. He got to spend a lot of time playing in the pool, which delighted his boyish soul, and time with very tolerant, accepting adults. All in all, he was happy, calm and incredibly well behaved.

And I got to spend time with some friends I’d not seen in years, long enough that some of them didn’t recognize me, (the extra upholstery didn’t help with that) and met some wonderful new people as well. A lot of both folk and filk (s.f. themed folk) music broke out at random intervals, some of it humorous and some serious. Cons and SCA events (another thing mostly given up) are where I’ve generally found the greatest concentration of kindred spirits, and this was no exception. It was a relaxacon (one without much in the way of prescheduled programming), and exactly what I needed. And our son did so well that perhaps, just perhaps, we can start to go to the occasional con again. Losing the part of my life those friends held has felt rather like losing a piece of a puzzle – the picture just isn’t complete without it. And now that piece can be fit back in, because it’s found.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Life as I know it, Parenthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.