10:51 p.m. | 2005-10-31 A Perfect Storm. In some ways I attended JournalCon blindly. In a lot of ways actually. It�s a place you go where everyone loves you. So to speak. And, trust me, a week before? I was ready to land without plans knowing that someone would meet me on the other side. It really is that cool. Part of the reason I was so unprepared with the packing and such was because I was expecting to see Mare once again. She was grieving the loss of her little brother and I wasn�t sure about what to say. Which is ridiculous when I thought about it. I know that I can�t karaoke, I don�t know how to make swag happen and I�m hopelessly shy in large gatherings. Yet, I know quite a bit about death and losing those whom you love. Still felt hopeless, of course. She made it easy. Just asking me normal questions. How are you supposed to feel? What are you supposed to do? All that kind of stuff. Which, frankly, is really easy when you�re bombarded with multiple deaths within a few years. One thing that I�ve learned since I lost six family members within one year is that I know something about death. Oddly, my experience with death wasn�t limited before that point. The majority of people that have died in my lifetime did so before that year. But, that year was the hardest and most significant. I don�t know that I helped � at all � but I did come to realize that I tend to handle death situations well. I feel like my voice matters when I speak of it, I suppose. I feel confident when I speak of it. That�s an odd ability to feel confident about. Seriously � death is a difficult subject. And, it�s very sad. Righteously so. But maybe, just maybe, that�s where my talents lay. It�s certainly not about the swag. That much I know. your thoughts? seed flower