Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores
Photographer Patricia Gulick

Monday, July 30, 2018

7/30/18 RMB “Our” People


7/30/18 RMB “Our” People


Dear Rita Mae Brown,

July, with her high temps and summer activities, is coming to a close. August promises to be just as warm, easing us closer to fall.

Comic Con was fun this year and, again, I marvel at what it has become, having lived and participated in its humble beginnings. The costumes have moved from mostly handmade contraptions to elaborate designs worthy of a movie set. A Storm Trooper here, Wonder Woman there, Rochelle Ibarra even donned a costume: Negan from Walking Dead.

Despite the immense size and massive attendance, it is still a place of magical energy, where strangers meet and find common ground, interests and experiences, within minutes.

This year, while waiting in one of those lines that goes forever, where some sleep overnight and many have that zombie look, not from make-up, nor a costume, but from staying up all night for days on end, we met an older woman and her grown daughter. They had traveled from Texas. For the duration of that line, from dawn into the wee hours of the morning, and into Ballroom 20 for the Supernatural show’s panel, among others featured, they were “our” people. People who we will likely never see again, yet for those hours of that day, we were connected.  

It is interesting how people will travel great distances to be at one of the many conventions, rallying around a common interest. I suppose it is much like any group activity, a fox hunt, a horse show, a political rally, and so on. Each has its own sort of magic, its own energy. However, I feel there is something more that draws us, more than the interest or focus at hand, it is the gathering, the sharing, the sense of belonging.

What would it take for us to feel that sense daily, to be able to walk anywhere, among strangers and acquaintances alike, and feel that sense of belonging, for all people to be “our” people? We share the planet earth, her resources, the sky, and the seas. We have more in common than we allow ourselves to acknowledge.


To Infinity and Beyond!

Loraine