Ya know, I am not a nervous flyer. I actually enjoy flying. But the night before an early morning flight I don’t usually sleep all that well. So rather than annoy Logan, I thought I would spend a few minutes and send an email. In other words…..I’ll annoy you guys.

As we get ready for LA PRIDE, the next in a long line of “events” ever since LAL, I just wanted to thank the folks who do so much for our community. Tonight, I met with part of the team that is working on Erotic City. I sat in that room and realized just how fortunate we are as a community and how lucky I am. Here we are less than 15 days away and fresh and creative ideas are still flowing. People are thinking of new things and how do to old things better. They are giving of their time, their resources, and themselves. It will be another gathering of our tribe.

A year ago, some of us had the remarkable experience of sitting in the Chicago Theatre when Mike Gerle was selected as International Mr. Leather. What an exceptional year, and what an exceptional leader. Mike came to an LALC meeting right after IML and passed his medallion around the room so that each of the folks in the meeting could “sorta” put their energy into it. It seems that each of us may have been just as touched by his energy as well. Now some of us are headed off to Chicago so that Mike can step down and I can hardly imagine what that will be like. Oh, not the speech…the change. We have celebrated his year at several events, but suddenly it hit me how much has happened and how fast.

We are also going to IML because Ross is going to stand on that same stage this weekend. A bunch of us were having dinner at Long Beach Pride and Ross happened to walk by. I sat there realizing that we are sending a pretty remarkable Mr. LA Leather to IML AGAIN! He has already demonstrated his leadership and his warm and caring spirit. Ross shared that he has had some pretty incredible things happen already. I thought of all the folks who helped make it possible and wondered if they knew that they had had a part in that process. I wanted to make sure that the members of the coalition were aware of what their efforts had produced.

As I was thinking of the Mike and Ross, I started to think of all the other people who have been in their spots, and then all the people involved in those events, and it sorta became overwhelming. There were an awful lot of people both “out in front” and behind the scenes who were involved in all that we do. Sure some came and left, but an awful lot of them stayed and are “connected” no matter what role they are in.

See maybe that is what is keeping me up….instead of my fear that I will oversleep and miss my flight. See, when I left that Erotic City meeting, I wondered if people knew all the things that go on behind the scenes. Not the hard work, I think people recognize that. I was wondering if all the folks doing the hard work recognized all the good their hard work was doing. See, I realized it is all about the working together. Sometimes it seems like the event itself matters. But the real secret is that it is about working together to make something happen between us. In that process, we grow, we learn, we solve problems, and we CONNECT. We start to work together and we become friends, hell, we become family. When I thought about all the “events” I kept seeing faces in my mind. The faces of the people I love and respect that make these things happen.

This weekend a lot of people are going to work hard to produce IML. Mike will step down as IML and Ross will step across the stage as the first Mr. LA Leather to follow in his footsteps. But the people who come from all over to make that happen will have connected. They will form their family and it will overlap with ours. And maybe part of what is keeping me up tonight, is knowing that both families will be missing someone who we came to think of as part of us. Steve Johnson won’t be at registration for LAL next year and he won’t be in Chicago this weekend and I for one am going to miss him. A lot of people are. His passing has reminded us of the fragile nature of our connections. His passing reminded me of how lucky I am to know some pretty remarkable people that I got to meet when we as a community put on “an event”. Knowing he would not be there this weekend, I was reminded to say thank you to all of you, not just for what you do, but for who you are, and not just for who you are in our community, but for who you are to me. Thank you.

We will never produce a perfect event. BUT in the process of trying we will build our tribe and our family and we will connect. Let me express my appreciation to those of you who are always there. I appreciate the connection that we have built working together. There will also be some new folks who offer to pitch in and help. Not just because it is fun but because they want to be a part of our tribe. Welcome them. If we have learned anything about the folks who show up, it is that they are full of surprises.