I just had the most incredible weekend of my life!  I'm afraid to blog about it, for one because I'll start tearing up, but also because no words I could say could ever bring out the absolute joy and happiness and fulfillment that this weekend has brought to me.  But I will try...

About two years ago, JP/Gandalf, one of my dearest friends of old, told me about a party that he and Tim/Bilbo (another very dear friend) had started planning...a LOTR event, a recreation of Bilbo's birthday party in all it's splendor.  They had been to too many conventions that were so stale and wrong, and they knew they could get it right.  Then a year ago, I got involved when JP asked me to sing at the Hall of Fire they were planning for Friday night, which would be held by Lord Elrond and his elves.  Since then we stayed in contact about it and I heard all the great stories as it developed, until finally, Thursday night arrived and it was time for the event to start.

Thursday night, I drove down after work to Shakertown, where the party was being held (which is so perfect, because it looks just like the shire!).  I was a little nervous, because I didn't know too many people there and wasn't sure how 'in character' you had to remain...but my worries were very quickly removed as soon as I stepped foot onto Shakertown land, and as I stepped up to the barn where Thursday's events were being held, I knew I was home.  Thursday night was absolutely wonderful--a delicious meal in the barn, wonderful company as I began to make some great new friends and get to know others that I had been looking forward to meeting in person, and stories and wonderful music and costumes and...just a splendid evening.

Friday I was actually pretty busy during the day.  I got up practically with the sun, to have breakfast with JP/Gandalf and Jo/Eowyn, which was a wonderful buffet.  Then it was off to the panel, which I had only found out I was on the night before.  Here's the thing--the other guests they had brought in were the best in their field--the best costumer, the absolute expert professor on Tolkien, Michael Drout; the Brobdingnagian Bards; the best armorer/weaponsmith...on and on and on...and they wanted all these guests on a panel to answer questions of those at the party about Tolkien and the influence of LOTR on the art world.  And then there was me...and I was sitting between the professor and the armorer...but even though I was totally out of place, it was still so much fun, and I learned so much from the other panelists.  After the panel, I had to run out for a bit to do a couple errands, then it was off to my room to prepare for the evening.  My parents also showed up, to be Lord and Lady Elrond, and we were off to the Hall of Fire to welcome all our guests to our elven home.

 
The Panel...here's just a few of those on the panel:  Constance Wagner, an amazing poet, and Michael Drout, the expert professor and one of my favorite people at the party--he's so interesting!  Oh, and me...I was trying to look smart...

The Hall of Fire was absolutely magical!  We had delightful skits by JP and Tim--and they are absolutely amazing actors, especially when it came to the improv after forgetting their lines...which made it even better!  Too many wonderful one-liners to even begin to record here.  One of the skits, we had a surprise for Dad--he thought he was just coming to sit at a table as Lord Elrond, but we pulled him up on stage for a great little skit where all he had to do was answer 'yes' to any question asked, and he was wonderful!  I also had the opportunity to sing several songs that night, and it was so much fun!  Also, Professor Drout read a passage from Beowulf to us in the original Anglo-Saxon, and I thought I was going to fall out of my seat, it was so amazing!  The whole night was just so incredible.

    
Lord and Lady Elrond                          my dear old wizardly friend Gandalf and I before the Hall of Fire

After the Hall of Fire, we went on a ghost walk.  Dieter had been able to make it for about half the Hall of Fire, so he was there to protect me from all the scary ghosts.  :-)  Actually, we just all went out in a field and told ghost stories, then we went back to the haunted house in the village (the most haunted, that is), and JP asked if anyone wanted to go into the house...they had to go by themselves, in the dark save but a flashlight, to the third floor and leave an apple at the end of the hallway, then the next person had to go all the way and switch the apple with another color apple.  That was somewhat entertaining, but the real fun came when most people were getting ready to turn in and JP and Michael asked if anyone wanted to stick around for a ghost hunt.  Of course, being the brave souls that we are, Dieter and I volunteered.  We walked around the house in the dark, staying in some of the rooms, listening and recording and trying to figure out what that creepy feeling was that we kept getting.  I have to admit, I don't even believe in ghosts, and I was pretty spooked!  The best part was when JP suggested we split up to investigate a noise we heard--only the worst idea ever!  I grabbed Dieter's arm even tighter and said 'I think that's a very bad idea'.  But, we didn't actually end up seeing any ghosts, and we survived, so it was certainly an adventure to tell!

Saturday morning, after another wonderful breakfast and a nap, I headed out to the party site to see what I could do to help, and had a great time setting it up with all the other people who worked so very hard.  And after it was set up, it took my breath away--it looked just like in the movie!!!  Well the party soon began, and oh, what a party!  We had the bards to perform and a hobbit-sized meal to eat.  We had dancing (when they suggested the dancing, I put down my wine, threw off my sandals, and ran out into the group, where we danced in circles until we were ready to fall over, laughing and singing and just having a grand time!), a black rider appearance, and a speech by Bilbo that even included a sudden disappearance!  I can't begin to describe how wonderful it all was...fellowship like I have never known before, something that stirs your soul and goes deeper than anything else ever could, or at least it did for me.  The bards ended the night with a medley of send-off songs, including Health to the Company, during which the tears started to fall and suddenly I was sobbing at the thought that the evening had to end.  Yet it wasn't over...as the party goers climbed on the buses to go back to their rooms, I wandered down to Bag End, the pride and joy of the organizers who built it from the ground up, to find Gandalf smoking a pipe on the bench outside, with Jo and several others scattered about...Mark, one of the bards, came up and started playing music for us, and we just talked about the weekend and how much it meant to each of us...how we didn't want to return to the fake world, because this was more real than anything we'd ever known.  Sitting in front of Bag End, with the pipe smoke and the music and friends, I could have lived in that moment forever.

  Bag End during the day

   dancing the night away!

  the party site before sunset


Note: I'm just starting to get the pictures, so if you're interested, there will be updated pictures on my facebook...