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"Go with the flow, Laurie. Go with the flow. It works every time."
So said my new friend Frances Ellen as we walked along Fisherman's Wharf, in the middle of a day where I was distinctly not following this directive for a variety of reasons, and she was nudging her daughter and my friend, BlogHer Health and Wellness contributing editor Catherine Morgan, to buy a tote bag in which to...er, tote the conference swag back to Florida.
I randomly ran into them as we were checking out of the hotel, and spent a lovely day with them in San Francisco. Virginia deBolt has already mentioned this mother-daughter power duo in a post about the BlogHer Open Space, but because this year's conference had me thinking a lot about family, here they are again.
I learned many things from Catherine and Frances during our day at the wharf among them: what a Webkinz actually IS, that Frances writes fiction at Story of Nadia, and that blogging in this family is a three-generational affair. Catherine's 14-year-old daughter Nicole has her own spots. She's Princess Nicole, where she blogs about the things she loves, which currently include the aforementioned Webkinz and Miley Cyrus, and waxes political at PunditGirl. You go, Nicole (and update PunditGirl! I want to know what you think!)
The multiple-blog thing must be genetic, because if you ask Catherine where she writes, she'll probably laugh and direct you - rightfully - to her home page, which links to all of her sites. Women4Hope focuses on women's issues, chronic illness is addressed at Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and there's a little bit of everything at Be the Change You Want to See In Yourself. But all I - and perhaps you - really need to know about Catherine is that she is one of the kindest people I've ever met, that last year at BlogHer when I was having an attack of the "oh my God will they really like mes" at the contributing editor meet-up, that she came over to me, hugged me, and told me that meeting me in person was one of the main reasons she was so glad to be there.
I know, right? And she doesn't even drink.
Hanging out with her and her mother made me a little bit sad that my own mother and sister weren't there, because this community has become such a part of my daily life and I like to share those sorts of things with my closest people. And Frances herself makes the whole "where are the elder bloggers?" as moot of a question as the "where are the women bloggers" that was the reason for all of this BlogHer action in the first place. In fact, when a woman in the Westin bar made a crack about not getting the attention in hotel bars that she used to, Frances said, "Wait until you're my age. Then you'll know what invisible feels like." As much as I can't imagine anyone would respond to her in this way, I know the ways of the world enough not to disagree, and admire people like her who are showing up and proving that you ignore any smart woman, of any age, at your peril.
So yeah, she's very wise, so if you see her online or in person, I'd suggest you go sit by her.
There were lots of family groups of two or more at BlogHer this year. It was nice. Many of them involved moms and babies, for
sure. Catherine from Her Bad Mother and baby Jasper were in the house, and
if anyone has a photo of Catherine breast-feeding at the Online
Activism panel, please share a link so I can pass it on to her.
Antonia of Yet Another Bloomin' Blog came from London to read (hilariously) at the Community Keynote. Ian and baby Esme joined her. Gena Haskett posted this video of her keynote reading.
Skye Kilaen was there with Boy Detective, whose late-night/early morning desire to party had her pacing the hotel lobby with him when I was coming in from breakfast for much less responsible reasons. Becky from Miss Priss was there with her beautiful boy. Here's photographic evidence from Kirk Brooks. Now home, Becky writes on the good and bad of conferencing with a baby. Here's a snip of the good.
