Horrorfind Weekend: The con is family

I accept that for a lot of people a convention is just a place to get autographs and meet celebs, others it is just a place to buy cool shit. There is nothing wrong with that, I was once like that and frankly, the convention needs those people to survive. We need massive crowds to support us, the people for whom the con is family.

I write this directly for MY con family. I am sure there are other groups who use HFW and other cons as family reunions. Our families may cross paths from time to time. Some times it extends and the families merge, other times we just wave and keep moving. The Horrorfind family has grown over the years. New people come along, old people move on. We lose touch. Just like a family. Maybe not everyone gets along all the time. We have bumps in the road like any family.

What is Horrorfind Weekend for me? It’s a whole year of emotion, frustration, love and hate crammed into four days. I leave it broken, bruised and bloody from the raw emotion, physically tired but emotionally renewed. Old friendships are rekindled. Secrets are revealed, while others are concealed. Lines are crossed and new ones are drawn. We drink too much, we yell too much, we love too much. We play the hero and the villain, do things we regret or make us feel dirty, but we also do great things. Anyone not in the family will never understand the magic that HFW works in people’s lives. Both good and bad magic can be worked.

We pour everything into this weekend, then we go back to our everyday life. We leave in tears but with smiles on our faces. Some of us have great full lives, others live just to get back to HFW. I have been in both situations. I never intended to make friends when I first stumbled upon this site. I never intended to find a family. Never intended to scream at people I love, hurt people I cared about, care about people I hurt, sing to strangers, hold the people I love while they cried and be held while I cried. Sometimes it is a mixed bag, but like this year it is a catharsis. The smiles outweigh the tears. Friendships that were left to whither have been refortified. New friendships have been forged. I have been a villain, but hopefully also somewhat of a hero. I received what I needed this weekend and hope I had some part in someone else finding what they need.

I know not everyone walked away happy this year, but I hoped they walked away with what they needed to forge ahead another year.