Gradually the speakers and organizers of the 2012 Scenario conference are gathering in Sedona – me, my wife D’Arcy and a friend Mary from Vancouver; Stephen Cook and Anthony Morrison driving down from Las Vegas on their trip around America; Geoff West and GD flying in from the East.
TSA was reasonable at the airport. We all sailed through and they actually seemed lighter in spirit than I imagined they would be – must be the rising energies.
No delays for us and a short three-hour trip from Vancouver to Phoenix. The airport at Phoenix was amazing for color and vibrancy. It seemed like I stepped into the future. We were met by Dave Schmidt and Jennifer who drove us to Cottonwood for meetings.
Jennifer regaled us with tales of how, in these parts, the pigs eat humans. Wild pigs with more of an instinct for attack than the coyotes. Sure made a great yarn!
We passed forests of cactus, scrub bush, white calcite hills, red-rock mountains, and all the time the idea in my mind was that I had stepped back into the Wild West – Tombstone, Tucson, Flagstaff. Where was Wyatt Earp?
We’d left days of rain in the Northern temperate rain forest and were now in sunny and dry conditions in the American Southwest. There’s a bylaw here that people have to paint their houses in pastels, to match nature. It certainly is beautiful but it took some getting used to, coming from the vibrant colors of the Pacific Northwest.
Mike Quinsey was already here from the south of England, joining Dave who moved down from Edmonds last month and is living on Jennifer’s farm, where Sierra Neblina also resides.
Our first order of business was to get accustomed to the sight of everyone – some much taller than we imagined, others huskier, me undoubtedly heavier.
Stephen and Anthony have been working out prior to the conference, causing me to go green with envy at their great shape, only my fingers having gotten a workout recently. (I’m on the sixty-day Ascension diet. Eat anything you want and get your sleek figure back by Dec. 21.)
There was much hugging, hooting and hollering and then we got down to business, discussing the remaining conference details.
Sometime in the night, Christina Mahler will arrive from Zurich, Karen Wilson of the Hope Chest from the West Coast, Blossom from Australia, Suzy Ward from the Pacific Northwest and Wes from St. Louis., Suzi Maresca and Andrea Scully from the East. Tomorrow Linda Dillon and husband Isaac arrive. None of us have ever met face to face!
We decided the remaining conference details at Jennifer’s house on her farm with 17 horses, nine or so dogs, and lots of other animal friends. Each of us was assigned a dog to cuddle. The dog next to Geoff was making some pretty strange noises which caused a lot of laughter and a lot of accusations to fly!
After the meeting was finished, we faced the most challenging task so far. Our driver stayed at the farm so we needed to drive the Chrysler van back to Cottonwood without having had an intro and in the pitch black of night. The “key” wasn’t even a key.
But we knew we were surrounded with angels and just turned the matter over to them. With everyone contributing what they knew, imagined or guessed and Stephen leading the way in his car, we made it safely back to Cottonwood. It was strictly driving by committee.
Regular schedules are persistent and so I awoke at (wait for it) 4:44 and tip-toed out of the motel room to go to the local Denny’s to work on my speech. Having been so quiet leaving the motel, I then probably woke everyone up by pressing the wrong button on my electronic key and causing the anti-theft horn to blare. Eeeek! I know I’ll get ribbed for that one!
Today is set-up for the conference with lots of time to meet the rest of the gang. Most of us have been working for several years knowing each other only from email and more lately from Skype. I can see that the conference is going to be busier than I originally thought. It’ll be all-hands-on-deck managing the behind-the-scenes necessities.
But I still plan to make as much time available for meeting all of you, many of whom I’ve been corresponding with for four years, whether on discussion groups, blogsites, Skype or other media.
OK, Denny’s is gonna charge me $10 for this wifi if I go over an hour and my speech is done. Back to the motel office to wait for everyone else to wake up, have breakfast, and then set-up.
Footnotes
(1) Back row, left to right: Mike Quinsey, Mary, Geoff, Dave, Sierra, Graham, Anthony, Stephen.
Front Row: Steve, Jennifer, and friend