My impressions of the Boston weekend

First of all, I was wicked psyched to meet everyone. Of the Kerrycrats that attended, I had only ever met TayTay (who just lives a few miles from me) and GlobalVillage (at the September anti-war protest in DC) before. It was great to match the real people to screen names. Whenever two or more Kerrycrats got together, we pretty much talked non-stop, like we'd known each other for years. Nobody got much sleep. But we were having a ball, so no one seemed to mind much. Because of flight delays and diversions, I was able to pick up 3 Kerrycrats at the same time at Logan airport on Saturday. I swear, my cell phone never got so much use before.

We didn't do as much touring of the city as we'd planned. But I'm glad we made the trip (twice, actually) up Beacon Hill to see JK and THK's home. That was cool. Walking up and down the steep, icy streets of the Hill was not fun, but I was happy to do it anyway.

Everyone went back to the hotel by around 3:30 PM on Sunday to get beautiful before the party. And TayTay had to meet with Roger, to make sure we knew what we needed to do. We had to stick together as a unit, and stay out of the way, so as not to spoil the suprise. It felt a bit like we were inside the birthday cake, waiting to jump out at the right moment. I was a bit suprised when we ended up being a large part of Teresa's speech. I was even more suprised when JK invited us up on stage with him. I think a few of us almost fainted from nerves. There were camera flashes going off, and people cheering us. It was surreal. We got the up-close and personal of his speech, which hit all the right notes. At times, I thought the stage might collapse under the weight of all the people up there. There were a couple of other groups of people (the Greater Love Tabernacle Choir, and a group of kids who used to be in Kids for Kerry) up there as well. And I kept hearing little creaking noises from under my feet. But everything held up fine. After he finished his speech, he posed for pictures with a lot of people, signed autographs, gave hugs and kisses to people. It was like one big JK love-fest. I got a hug and kiss each from JK and from THK, and someone took a pic of me with JK. (Whoever has that, please-please-please either upload it to Photobucket or email it to me. I need proof to show my friends that this actually happened.)

After the 'official' party ended, everyone headed back to their rooms to change into casual clothes, before we headed to the Irish pub. There were already several people there by the time I arrived, including JK's assistant Roger. That kinda suprised me, but I was cool with it. Shortly thereafter, I heard that THK had decided to take care of our bar tab for the night, which was even cooler. So the alcohol was flowing freely, and people were getting pretty buzzed. After a while, Roger started making a bunch of calls on his Blackberry. At one point, he held up the phone and told us "Say hi to Senator Kerry". Of course, we did just that, rather loudly and raucously. Then Roger disappeared for a while. About a half-hour later, in walks John Kerry. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized he was standing right behind me, with his hands on my shoulders. We all kinda scrunched over to give him a place to sit, which ended up being right next to me. Vector then proceeded to offer me bribes to switch seats with her. I turned down the bribes, and switched seats with her anyway. Who am I to stand in the way of someone's life-long dream? Besides, I was still pretty close.

After a few camera flashes went off, JK asked that we not take any more pictures, because he just wanted to talk to us. He also made it clear that what was said should stay there, and not get blogged anywhere. We were all agreeable to that. And he proceeded to spend about 45 minutes asking and answering questions. He was very warm and accessible. He seems to be a very touchy-feely person, always with a hand on someone's shoulder, or giving people hugs. He didn't seem to have an aloof bone in his body. He looked right at people when speaking to them, and seemed very engaged with all of us. After a while, Roger told him they really needed to get going. Apparently, there was still a party going on at his home, and the guest of honor was in hight demand. But before he left, there were more hugs, handshakes and high-fives. After he left, we talked for a while, and eventually floated out of the pub on our own individual clouds.

A whole bunch of us went back to the big party-size room I was sharing with Island Blue and GRLMGC, and we talked until the wee hours of the morning, apparently disturbing our next door neighbors, who knocked and complained. We tried to keep it down after that, but it was difficult to contain our excitement. Some folks had early flights to catch, so eventually we all retired to our rooms. But for the rest of the time were there, the high-fives and exclamations of "We had a beer with John Kerry" would just burst out of us. Sometimes the high-fives would happen spontaneously when we just thought about the events of the previous night.

Wow! What an awesome weekend.

Thank you to everyone who made it possible. :D :toast: :bounce: :beer:

I enjoyed your first person account so much. What a terrific event; I am so glad you were there to represent us, and it means a lot to hear the details of the night from each one of you.

Seems like not too long ago we were fighting here pretty much as a very small group, eh? Now it's so damn heartwarming to have a whole posse here who will ride for JK.

It had to be so cool to meet someone you expected to be impressed by and were blown away beyond any expectations. It has to make you even more committed to his goals. For the rest of us, the witness of all of you that he is what he appeared to be is important. (I also understand Wel's comment even better - if he asked that the conversations stay there, they clearly should, out of basic politeness and the respect we have for him.

Thanks for the interesting comments.

It's obvious why some events are better when there is an element of surprise included, especially when it adds to the enjoyment of all involved.

Can you tell us more about what was said during JK and THK's speeches?

So the speeches are a bit of a blur. But I remember thinking that JK hit all the right notes on a bunch of issues. Perhaps someone who wasn't totally freaked out by being on stage could answer this better than I. A lot of Teresa's speech was actually about us, which floored me.

:) :toast: :bounce: :yourock: :hi:

I swear if I read many more of these I'm going to melt right on the spot. Or burst out of my skin. Or something.

Yeah, You Guys Had A Beer With JOHN KERRY!!!

Holy fucking cow!

:woohoo:

I ended up moving to the bench on the other side so TayTay could sit. I wasn't trying to be an asshole. I was kidding, like, "Man, you are so lucky, I'll give you $50 bucks for that chair." Like funny hahaha...

I thought you were being nice because I live in CA and never see him.

I am still willing to pay you the $50.

I thought it was all in good fun. I wouldn't have done things any other way. Chill... :D

He has beautiful eyes. I got to see them up close and personal; at one point I was sitting on the end of the table and he was leaned back in a chair opposite it, with WEL and Vek flanking him and everyone else clustered nearby, just talking, and his eyes really are as beautiful as they look in photos.