Saturday morning, we woke Maia up from her nap (I know, are we crazy?) and bundled ourselves into the car to head to Toronto for a Pre-BlogHer Toronto get-together. I was super-excited, and anxious, about meeting some other local bloggers, and even though I wasn’t really sure what Chris would be doing the entire time, it ended up being that several dads were there, basically acting as baby wranglers.
We gathered at the (Don Mills) Evergreen Brickworks, which is an old factory site that’s being revamped into “international showcase for urban sustainability and green design“. After finding parking (parking there suuuuucks), we head into the building. “Building” might be kind of a strong word… it was more like a hangar, a big metal roof held up by big metal poles over some concrete, but charming nonetheless. Vendors filled the area, most selling locally produced organic products. The back of the building opened up to a small courtyard, with a pond and forests and hills and trails… and apparently, as a conversation later revealed, koi in the water. Oh, and turtles. I actually didn’t look at the water at all!
As we’re walking up to the courtyard, I see some bright, very light hair. “That’s Catherine,” I say to Chris, “I think.” But she has her hand up by her ear and I think she’s on a cell phone, so we walk right by one another without me saying anything. Fortunately, Katie of Motherbumper recognizes me as we walk up.
After some finagling of the Starbucks coffee boxes (did you know they don’t have actual spouts? Just a big hole where you pour the coffee from? And here we have kids running around? Yeah, those coffee boxes were an accident waiting to happen, an accident that didn’t happen) we all settled down at a picnic table to talk. Emma of Where there’s a Willer… was there, as well as Racheal McCaig the Energizer Mommy, Kelly the Don Mills Diva, Rebecca of Playground Confidential, and two others whose names and blogs I didn’t catch (so sorry, I fail at networking).
I loved meeting all of these women, and I loved seeing all the kids. Seven month-old Little I sat in her stroller looking around, grabbing onto her toys and watching everything with her huge blue eyes, and I even got a smile out of her. It was just amazing to sit there with my baby Maia, watching the older children racing around together, watching Jasper stomp around in that chunky, awkward, and totally endearing way that a child who has just learned how to walk has. I mean, someday, Maia will be walking. On her own two feet. Independent of us. Someday beyond that, Maia will be running. With her friends. Caught up in childhood. Fuck, I’m getting teary-eyed just thinking of it.
I honestly didn’t realize how much I needed to have a real-life conversation with moms (unrelated to me). I love Twitter, I love blogging, and I love the online mom community, but to sit out in the fresh air together, voice our thoughts, and share smiles … I needed that.
We talked about BlogHer and how awesome it is. I really hope I can get there next year. It seems really reasonably priced, so, my fingers are crossed. We talked about breastfeeding and how other women supporting you makes it infinitely easier, but the amount of misinformation out there about it can be discouraging. I whipped out my boob to feed Maia and no one blinked then or when Rebecca whipped out her boob to nurse Little I. We talked a bit about labour, delivery, and the hospital experience. We giggled at the old man who stomped by wearing a camouflage handkerchief as a sarong (and maybe some shoes but I dunno) — hopefully Catherine’s picture of him pops up sometime.
Most of these women knew each other already. I did feel a little intimidated — I mean, I’m new to this mommy thing, I’m not going to BlogHer 2009, and I live 40 minutes outside of the city, so going into Toronto requires some planning on my part. By the time the gathering dispersed, though, I felt so comfortable and happy. I had a great time and I really hope there are more Toronto mommy get-togethers that I hear about!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Tatiana, you tease, where is the story of the lost beer?
Glad you had fun, and yes, human-to-human contact is a nice change of pace.
So glad you were able to get together with some other moms! You should try to coordinate some sort of regular get together with your new mommy friends.
DUDE. That is amazing. I would have been intimidated too. I’m so glad you had fun and got to hang with other awesome ladies.
It was great to meet you, put a name to the tweets in particular, and I was also really glad that everyone is really nice in person. You know, not that you don’t expect that from their writing, but still. It’s intimidating meeting new people – and somehow even weirder when you know a lot of intimate details about them but don’t actually know them in person. So BlogHer will be overwhelming but at least I will recognize some people! Next year, right?
I wish I had been there!
Man, there are a lotta cool bloggers in Toronto! Sounds so fun. Someday I’ll go to BlogHer … someday….
Awww. It sounds like you had a great time. I wish that I went. Hope there’s another gathering soon. Would love to meet you after all these months.
~ humps
Wow that sounds like so much fun.
Oh Tatiana, I wish I was in town (though if I was I don’t know if I would have had enough gumption to head out and meet these women). I’m glad you did. Now I can sort of feel I was there, through you. I think it would be so cool if you could go to BlogHer next year. Can’t wait to hear from others how it is. Thanks for the post.