Thank you. This gives me a lot to think about; I'm seeing a lot of parallels here. (One of the things I love about posting about these events is how much I learn about my friends' paths. This isn't the type of thing people tend to talk about much. Which is too bad.)

I'm gaining a new appreciation for setting... even a rain-enforced shift from the normal fire location to a covered pavilion was disorienting and changed things completely; having an event you're used to experiencing a thousand miles north reproduced at the familiar, see-it-every-day Clark must've been downright surreal.

And on becoming a fixture: this was the seventh Spiritfire; a significant core of people has been part of most or all of those seven (not to mention all the related events that are part of the same subculture). That network of relationships was invisible to me the first time, everyone was just everyone.

One of the quirks of my current lifestyle is how easy it is for me to not be a fixture for anyone outside my immediate family: to stay home instead of going out, to put off answering that email or returning that phone call, to just not bother making contact. That's something I need to work to correct.