Ready? Set. Go.
Well. Here I go again. I am flying to Rantoul IL tonight for the 2005 World Freefall Convention. I have mixed emotions about the event this year. I’ve worked at the convention since I was 14 - starting out running errands and answering phones, and then filling in for my mom or one of the other girls in manifest when they’d need a break. I didn’t go full time until a few years later, but it’s been me and mom almost every year since. She made a last minute decision not to go this year and while I’m still looking forward to seeing all my friends and getting back into the whirlwind pace of it all, without her, the event turns more into work than a family reunion. I have a good partner this year, she’s been at the event for 9 years - not in manifest, but she’ll catch on quick.
I know I’m just anxious. I’ll settle into things once I have my first cup of coffee from Charity’s, and hear the songs from the air traffic control tower in the morning. That’s when it’ll feel like home again.
Until then - peace out, cub scouts. Don’t forget to miss me.
August 16th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
Holy crap, I spent 6 years in Champaign-Urbana (which as you must know is right down the road from Rantoul) and never had a clue that such a convention ever took place. The things I missed out on…
August 16th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
We’ve only been in Rantoul about 3 or 4 years, so if you weren’t living there recently, you never would have known! Before that we were in Quincy for, man, about 11 years. I have vendors in Champaign though that still don’t realize this event happens that close to them. :)