I used to watch the soap opera Guiding Light which went off
the air in 2009. It Introduced me to some wonderful friends online through message boards and Twitter and I met
some in person at fan luncheons in New York City for Crystal Chappell and
Jessica Leccia, two actresses from that show. Because I’m a writer and photographer
I shared my experiences at those luncheons here so others who were not able to
attend could know what happened there and what it meant to me and maybe feel,
at least a little bit, as if they were a part of it all. Because they were. If
I had a nickel for every time the name of an absent Twitter friend had been
mentioned by someone at one of those luncheons I could probably afford to go to
the next event! If you’d like to catch up on those stories you can read about
them here:
The weekend of Jessica Leccia’s fan luncheon in March of
this year began a couple of days early for me when Kathy (@Zoogirl) arrived to
spend a couple of days with me in Maryland. We had been talking about our
travel plans on Twitter and decided that she’d spend some time with me here in
Maryland before and after our train trip to NYC where we’d split the cost of a
hotel room. I put her to work helping me make the buttons that would be
included with the fan packets at the luncheon. Then she got to watch me stress
out as my computer started making strange noises and I frantically backed up
everything, hoping I didn’t have a failing disk drive. (I’ll finish that story
later.)
My husband dropped us off at the train station on his way to
work Friday morning. Thank you, Amtrak, for wifi on your Northeast Regional
trains so we could tweet all the way there! I had assured Kathy that we could
easily walk to our hotel, having checked the map and compared the distance to
other walks I’d taken around NYC on previous visits. I wanted her to get a feel
for the city and see it up close, too, instead of speeding by in a taxi.
We met Julie (@julieluvsotalia) and her mom, Marcia, at the
hotel. It was too early to check in so they had checked their bags and we did
the same before heading out again to eat lunch. I had noticed we passed a
burger place, a bar & grill and a pizza place on the corner near our hotel
so we debated our choices as we walked and decided on pizza. I’ve been to a lot
of pizza places in my day but I’ve never seen a guy bring his unicycle to one
(and that’s a sentence I never expected to write!). I couldn’t resist taking a
picture. Oh, and Marcia? Thanks for the pizza! (Gotta watch her… she deserves a
gold medal for fastest check-grabber!)
After lunch I called Denise (@jessiewolf) who had arrived
on a redeye flight the night before. She was staying at a hotel where we’d
split a room when we came for Jessica’s luncheon in 2011. I led the way as we
walked just a few blocks and found Denise and her friend, Natalie, in the
lobby. We didn’t have too long to wait before Jill Lorie Hurst joined us. After
introductions, hugs, a few pictures, and discussions about plans for the
weekend we left Denise & Natalie to go to their show and Jill led the rest
of us toward Grand Central Station where she and I parted company with the
others. Kathy, Julie and Marcia had plans to attend an event for
@nycwriterchick and Jill had plans for me....
Jill said she’d called a few friends and said, “Donna’s
coming to town! Let’s have dinner!” We took the subway to the Upper West Side
to a great little Greek restaurant, Symposium, and were soon joined by my friends Lisa 9@ColumbusNYC) and Bettie (@bettielavin). I’d met them
when I came to Crystal Chappell’s fan club luncheon in October, 2010. They were
followed by Mimi Torchin (@Mimi_Torch) and her partner, Liron Cohen
(@SunshineLiron), whom I was delighted to finally meet in person after
chattering with them on Twitter for a couple of years.
I wish I had set a tape recorder in the middle of the table
to capture the evening’s conversation. I’m sure we solved all the problems of
the world at least three or four times as we talked about politics and soap
operas and families and politics and Texas (Mimi & I are both Texans) and writing
and politics and pets and the economy and oh, did I mention politics? Mimi had
been reading my blog and giving me wonderful words of encouragement for months
so I shared with her my idea for a book. She thought it was a great idea and
urged me to write it, just as Jill had done when I shared it with her. (It's in the works. OK, mostly in my head.)
At one point during the evening I took a deep breath, leaned
back and let the conversation swirl around me, thinking, “How did this little Baptist girl from Dallas, now preacher’s wife, end up here, of all places?!” I felt
honored to be in the company of these fascinating women who had courageously
pursued their dreams and led such interesting lives. It made me want to reach
for my dreams, too.
I had my camera with me but I hadn’t taken any photos since
we got to the restaurant, choosing to be a participant in my own life rather than observer. But
as we were getting ready to leave I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t document the
moment. I asked everybody to gather around for a group photo, handed my camera
to our gracious waiter and had him take a shot of us all together. I
think it turned out great!
Stay tuned for "NYC, March 2012, Part Two".....
