Hiatus

Is that how you spell that?

I'm heading to NYC for the CCCC conference (any other acronyms I can throw in here?) on Wednesday. Our flight leaves way way early, so I'll get into town too early to check in at the hotel, but I'm planning to check my bags with the concierge and head to the conference. (Lots of hard to spell words here.) I'm excited about the trip. I haven't been to NYC since the last conference there and am looking forward to seeing my friend Kelly. She and I pretty much only see each other at conferences these days, so we'll have to take advantage of the time we have.

Seeing friends at conferences results in what I have dubbed the EPR: Emotional Public Reunion. I saw my first EPR at my first staff meeting at UNH. People came back from the summer and wandered into the staff meeting, made eye contact with someone, and their faces lit up, they hugged, they asked about the summer, they missed each other. I watched this all unfold, jealous, lonely, out of place, self-conscious. I knew a few people in the room because we had gone through the week-long orientation together, but we had just seen each other (so no reunion) and didn't really know each other well enough for the emotional part anyway. But then, a year later, I came into that room and had my own EPR.

It was fantastic. I totally got it. I felt part of a community, I had friends who I had truly missed over the summer, and I belonged.

Then I saw it again at my first CCCC. I didn't have anyone to reunite with, so again I felt out of place and a little self-conscious, but that was more than just not having an EPR. It's not like they were happening all around me and I was the only one left out, but still, I knew that I wasn't yet a part of that community. If memory serves me right, Kelly and I staged one just to make ourselves feel better.

But now I know people. Not a lot of them, of course, but a few. I'm looking forward to seeing Kelly the most, but also Jess, and Bronwyn, and Katie, if she's there. Mike McD, Seth. Anyway, there are people, some of whom I'm close enough to have the arms around each other, big smiles, sort of reunion. Others with whom I say hello, ask about work and life, and am just happy to see again. But, as CCCC always reminds me, these are my people. This is my community. It's not the only one, but it's definitely one where I belong. I've mentioned that before, I know, but there's something fantastic about that. About having an academic and professional community. Gotta love it.