Once in a blue moon, you meet a person who rocks your socks off. I hadn’t come to BlogHer anticipating meeting this someone. I wasn’t expecting it at all. PatientBloggers - You Are Not Your Disease, You Just Blog About It Every Day was a seminar I had been planning on attending since I first eyed the BlogHer agenda. I had no idea who anyone on the panel was, nor did I bother researching them. If I had, I would have been suitably impressed. I wanted to attend more because I blog a lot about Autism, and I constantly struggle with balancing being a mom to an Autistic child and being “me”. Some days I write about the battle against Autism, and how pissed off I am at the system. Some days I live blog about reality TV. Other days I write about things I should probably keep to myself, and every once in a while, I ‘fess up on how much I weigh. Is that okay? Is that what people want to read? Do I care? Should I care?

The seminar was excellent. Each of the panelists brought a unique perspective to the subject matter, and the bloghers in the audience, they were in inspirational bunch as well. Top discussion points included “how to have sex while wearing an insulin pump” and a brave blogher who described her husband’s reaction to her blog post about how she felt about losing all of her hair to Alopecia.  The person who stood out the most to me, was a woman by the name of Loolwa Khazzoom, a journalist based out of California and the founder of Dancing With Pain. Loolwa struck a chord with me because she didn’t start out as chronic pain expert. She started out as a self-described “über athletic chick: an avid cyclist, swimmer, and jogger, a women’s self-defense instructor, and most importantly, a dance fiend”. She wrote the book Consequence which chronicled her decision to respond to sexual harassment physically and aggressively. That’s a far cry from where she ended up. How did she get here? Did her readers come with her as she morphed from cool punk rock chick to a pioneer in the chronic pain management field? And does she care? Should she care?  When the seminar wrapped up, I was left a bit overwhelmed.  While I wanted to write about it immediately, I felt like I needed to process my thoughts for a few days.

The next day, as I headed back to my room to rest up for one last night of partying, I saw out of the corner of my eye the one and only Loolwa.  I wanted to say thank you to her, to tell her how she had inspired me to want to write more honestly, more raw, and to not worry about what other people thought, to just be true to my story, whatever that is.  I figured it would be a quick “omg you’re so awesome!” moment.  But it was so much more.  Loolwa asked me to sit down and chat with her.  She was touched to know how much hearing her speak had meant to me.  She wanted to hear my story, and Max’s story.  And not for one moment did I feel like she was waiting to talk, waiting for me to shut up.  She was sincere, and real, and empathetic.  We talked about how much music has helped Max, and how music affects her differently on any given day.  We talked about how vibrations can heal, and that there is so much more out there than what old school medicine would have us believe.  She confided in me that the very editors who had turned down her pitches two years earlier because her ideas were “too out there” were now coming back to the table and embracing these very same concepts as cutting edge and relevant to their readership.  

If I look a bit tired in this picture it’s because I have been going to sessions all day, and partying into the wee hours with all of the incredible women I have met over the past three days. I swear I have blog content for the next 3 months, just based on the inspiring conversations I’ve had, seminars I’ve sat in on, and elevator chit chat.

There is a stack of over 100 business cards in my purse, blogs I need to go check out and add to my daily reading. I feel like my posts while I’ve been here have been very high level, that there is so much more to say but I need to process it all before it will come out as anything more than “OMG I just talked with Loolwa Khazzoom for the past hour and she is the most wonderful person evah!!“. My eyes have been opened up to so many writers that I never would have known had I not come to BlogHer. This community of women is powerful. We are more than mommy bloggers, we are story tellers, renegades, and some of the funniest people on the face of the earth. Time to finish packing and head home to my wonderful family. I will post again tonight once the kiddos are in bed. Thank you Mabel’s Labels for this life changing experience!

When I won the Mabel’s Labels BlogHer Correspondent contest, the first thing that went through my mind was, “OMG, I HAVE TO CALL JENNIFER AND TELL HER”.  The second thing that went through my mind, was that I wanted her to come with me.  She is my best friend, my honourary sister, my sounding board, and one of my only friends that really gets blogging.  She gets it so much, she has two blogs.  

So, as you can imagine, I was thrilled when she decided to join me in Chicago for BlogHer, because it really would not have been as much fun without her.  At lunch today, the Mabels ladies announced that they had already decided what their BlogHer contest would be for next year – the Wish You Were Here?? Come to BlogHer’10 in NYC contest, I couldn’t wait to spread the word.  If you are at BlogHer this year, and have a friend that you wish was here, you should enter.  It’s totally easy, and who knows, you could win a trip for you and a bosom blogger to NYC next year!

Incredible. Overwhelming. Mind bending. The first day at BlogHer ’09 blew my mind. I have had my horizons expanded and I do believe there is no turning back. The sessions have been really strong, with great panels, and thoughtful, respectful debate. The keynotes left me wiping mascara from my cheeks and so incredibly proud to be a part of this creative community of women writers. I am surprised at how intense this experience is for me. After the keynote I felt like I needed to clear my head, so Jennifer and I went out to Big Bowl for an incredible Thai meal.

After dinner, we returned, ready to get our party on. These ladies know how to have a good time, as you can see by this shot of Julie, Caitlyn and I wearing tiaras at the “Mommy Needs a Cocktail” party. There were also many drunken tweets and a very odd unicorn cake.  I added another 50 blog cards to my collection of sites to check out, and had some rather personal conversations that may or may not have involved me giving women I have just met underwear.  Yeah, it’s that kind of conference.  Bring on Day 2!

Katrina Carefoot, Mabel BlogHer correspondent, from Fickle Feline, will be blogging throughout BlogHer ’09 about her experience in Chicago.  For updates by the minute, follow her on twitter!Eight hours door-to-door from Toronto to Chicago. Not bad, right? I suppose so, if you were driving! But Julie and I were flying, with her 12 week old baby boy Finian at that! After circling above Chicago for 30 minutes due to a crazy rain, our little pond jumper plane needed to refuel so we diverted to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lucky for Julie and myself (and all the other passengers), Fin was an angel baby, and kept his cool. As the minutes ticked by, we texted like mad with our BlogHer counterparts already in Chicago and let them know that we were going to miss (BIG SIGH) the SocialLuxe party. I am still recovering from missing this event (and don’t even talk to me about the swag we missed out on).

Once we landed, it was fairly smooth sailing to the hotel. Except that President Obama is in town (maybe Michelle will speak at BlogHER?!) so traffic was a nightmare. When we arrived, Fin was starting to fuss (I didn’t blame him, I was tired and hungry too), so we dumped our stuff and found food and “beverages”. I somehow managed to be late to all of the parties (People’s Party and Room 704 Party) so I continued to miss out on the awesome swag getting doled out! I need to get on top of my game! I did get to meet some of my favourite bloggers, Cecily, Deb, Lotus, and Heather, all on the first night, so that was a real thrill. And of course, I met a bunch of other awesome ladies who I will now be reading up on.

What’s in store for today? Breakfast and lots of coffee first, then sessions all day! I think I’m going to check out:

Room of Your Own 1: Realllly Personal Blogging – How much info is TMI?

Room of Your Own 2: Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids?

Identity/Passions: PatientBloggers – You Are Not Your Disease, You Just Blog About It Every Day

Time to go – the ladies of BlogHer await!