That's BlogHer '12- August 8, 2012

That’s BlogHer ’12- August 8, 2012

About halfway through my first BlogHer conference I realized I had only slept about 5 hours in two days. There was no stopping at this realization. I was off to the next event. I said to my roommates, two of which had been there before, “Oh my God! This is insane. I am wiped!”

One responded, “That’s BlogHer!”

She was right. That was BlogHer. It was three days and nights of non-stop hand shaking, nametag reading, card swapping, and swag toting. This is all while anxiously smiling at people you may or may not recognize from their Twitter avatar and wondering what parties they got invited to.

That is BlogHer, but it’s so much more.

I decided I had the privilege of taking four days out of my life to be there and I was going to experience everything I could. I started with rushing off my plane into a cab to be at the hotel in time to hear the leader of the free world speak to bloggers. President Obama spoke via satellite to the conference. Later in the weekend we got to hear from Martha Stewart and Katie Couric. It was also Martha Stewart’s birthday on Friday. When the crowd started singing to her, I pretended they were singing “Happy Birthday” to me too. Martha and Katie were great, but not the ones who truly inspired me.

After hearing the posts of the BlogHer ’12 Voices of the Year winners I wanted to throw open my laptop and lay fingers to keyboard. What words could I come up with to create such beautiful stories? Could I craft a piece with that much meaning, humor, or poise? After this weekend I’m starting to believe I can.

The last night I got lucky enough to be in the same room as two of my blog idols. I saw Jill from Scary Mommy and Kat from Mama Kat’s Losin’ It. I watched them pile into the funny photo booth at one of the parties. They were so at ease, laughing together. It was clear they had “been-here-done-this” but were taking in some of the festivities anyway. I felt like a freshman watching the popular senior girls. Finally, I gathered my underclassman gumption and just went up to them and introduced myself. I told them how much I like their work and how they inspired me to write. Both seemed genuinely appreciative of my words.

I suppose I could walk away from the weekend thinking there is no way I’ll ever be as talented or successful with my blog as those women are with theirs’. Or, I could use BlogHer as a start. This was the launching pad I needed to take the next step.

After all, I did become a senior girl.

After the party where I got to meet Jill and Kat I met up with some of my fellow freshman bloggers. Above all else at BlogHer, I learned no one becomes successful without others. That means in my quest to get better, I have to support others.

Support. That’s BlogHer.