PAX Unplugged

[I posted this on Facebook but I want to share it with the world. 💖.]

PAX Unplugged was this weekend, and it was one of the best weekends of my life. The first time I saw a “Welcome Home” banner at PAX Prime, I cried, because PAX truly felt like my home. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was home. So to have a PAX in my hometown was one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had.

I can’t even name everyone, so I won’t try, but I will attempt to say some of the things I loved: being on three panels (and even moderating one of them!) filled with people who are superstars and my own personal heroes and heroines; going to amazing parties and hanging out with some of the greatest people; demoing and signing SO MANY of our own games; running a Lazer Ryderz tournament that was full of fun, laughter, and sick guitar shreds; playing games and eating meals with people I adore; crying when I heard people’s stories about how I inspired them and helped them get where they are today; watching some of my closest and best local friends interact with my con family; and, most of all, turning and seeing my husband, smiling at him, and being filled with joy at having taken this journey with him. My heart passed out so many times I should have just carried around smelling salts.

This industry has given us so much, and it makes me happy to know that I am able to give back to it. Being at PAX Unplugged and being able to see both the people who helped me get where I am, and the people who came to me for help, made me feel like I was in the center of a circle that never ends, full of humble, talented, incredibly beautiful people who are now a part of my life.

Thank you all for making me feel like a superstar. Thank you all for being my friends, my family, my life. I couldn’t do this - and I certainly wouldn’t want to do this - without you.

Welcome home.