It’s late. The house is quiet after a day of semi-organized chaos. Eighteen of us together is like herding cats.

We’re visiting with my husband’s family. His big sister turned 50 this week. I remember meeting her over a decade ago and wondering if she was as nice as she seemed. She is.

I married into an amazing family. There’s so much love here, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the personality quirks.

I’m leaving Friday for Portland. Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit is taking place this weekend. I believe the title puts all of us attending on the FBI watch list. It’s a big conference for those of us in the blogosphere, many of us entrepreneurs. A chance to connect live with people met first in the virtual world. I’ve wanted to go the last two years and now that it’s days away I’m excited and strangely detached.

I have no idea what to expect. I know there are people I’m eager to hug, people whose eyes I’m excited to look into, people I want spend time with. I imagine there are old stories that I’ll have to consciously move away from and old wounds that might ooze a little. There’s been massive healing in my life recently and I’m curious to see how it carries into a big event like this. I’ll be bringing my self-care practices, my willingness to trust that everything is perfect and my open heart.

If you’ll be there, I hope we’ll find each other. Please introduce yourself if you see me – I’d love to look you in the eye and give you a hug too.

Wherever you’ll be this weekend, I hope you continue to re-tell your stories so they’re a little less painful, love yourself when your wounds begin to ooze, and show up to life with an open heart.