My Reflections upon GaryCon VII were written on March 30, 2015 and posted in Facebook. I repost my words here, to remember:
“Even though Wisconsin was as cold as I remember, GaryCon VII was warm and inviting. Welcoming all who arrived stood a life-sized Sheldon wearing a GaryCon VII t-shirt. I intended, but forgot, to have my photo taken with him.
“My beret’s off to Luke, Ernie and Dale for their excellent organization of this grand event. You all do Gary proud and I am very pleased to have been a minute part of it. From what I could tell, a grand time was had by all. I’d like to call out some people (in no particular order):
“To Luke, thanks for your kind generosity with my host regarding accommodations;
to my hosts Carlos and Amanda Roo, everyone owes you a debt of gratitude as I would not have been able to attend without your gift of an air ticket and I’m doubly glad you did so well in your tournament;
To Cindy, your daughter is beautiful and talented–she must take after you,
to Lloyd and Zach, I’m glad you were my neighbor and I appreciate you lending me your art materials and I admire your fearlessness;
to Jeff, so sorry not to have connected more with you than just that short moment by the stairs… Vlee Vlee;
to Mike, thanks for bringing me up to date and for the lasagne at The Pub;
to Jim, you are looking well and so I’m glad you are on the mend;
to Tim, thanks for the pizza, the drive to Delavan to reminisce and recharge and for always being encouraging;
to Frank, thanks for your gracious self, your precious smile and for the personal tour;
to Stefan, you are one amazing, talented and entertaining dude and I’m so glad you liked the commission once you saw the art printed out–as we now know, it’s often deceptive if one only views art electronically–and good luck with the video, you deserve it;
to Lawrence, I got to sign several White Plume Mountain modules which I haven’t seen in an age and I do believe the calligraphy was my very first published TSR commission;
to Diesel, I’m glad to be getting to know you and your wife Lisa better and look forward to being with you again in Texas,
to Barbara, so great to meet you in the flesh… I consider this to be the start of a beautiful friendship;
to Steve, although you’re an old goat, I will probably be doing more maps for you;)
to Skip, you are looking good and I’m sorry you had to leave so soon but your excuse was totally understandable so thank you for compassionately caring for the poor feline critters who brave their way to your doorstep;
to Penny, thanks for grabbing my attention–it’s great to finally meet you in person and ditto about the cats
to Dan, you are quite the bard and I’m sorry we did not get a better opportunity than to meet in passing as you were performing and I was leaving… maybe we’ll meet, anon;
to Dave, you are still an incredible listener, a caring friend with a gentle soul–bless you;
to Harold, I never knew you with a mustache but I’m happy you are involved with the Breadloaf Bookshop, one of my favorite haunts as I used to man the shop from time to time so I’d be happy to help you out graphically should you ever need it,
to Heidi, congrats on your first DM session and I love to read your Facebook posts;
to Steve and Kiff, it was great reconnecting with you two and I appreciate the cc tip;
to Elise, you’re still looking great and I’m sorry we didn’t get a better chance to talk;
to Scott, thanks for the soup and for the conversation on Saturday night;
to my my sisters Dawn and Diana and my brother Bert for stopping by to say “Hi.”
and finally, to my loyal fans for their interest and anyone else I may have neglected to list, thanks for all kindnesses… ”
Btw–I was given the title, “Our Lady of Gaming” seven years ago at the last Gaming Convention I attended in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin when Gary was still alive. It is with pride that I adopted the same designation at GaryCon.
Our Lady of Gaming