This comes from my brother who has a list smaller than ours.
Ray,
This upcoming Memorial Day weekend, my e-mail list is having it's third annual Gathering. You asked me to send details on how this tradition started and is maintained, so here goes.
Our group began about three and a half years ago. From the start, we felt a certain closeness to each other, despite being spread all over the world. One member, in Finland, created a web page photo album of members, which helped put a face on those we had gotten to know so well from their posts. Within months, people began saying, wouldn't it be great if we could all meet in person. A lady in Idaho knew some folks that ran a mountain resort
and began asking if people would come if she booked it for a weekend. She immediately got enough responses to book the resort on a weekend in June. We had one girl fly in from Denmark and a guy from Paris, France. Altogether there were about 24 of us. The resort was 2 hours drive from the nearest airport, so the coordinator also bussed us in and out.
During the Gathering, we had two seminars each day, had all our meals together, went hiking and swimming and generally got to know each other better. After dark, we'd make a campfire and sing old favorites.
Everybody enjoyed it so much that they immediately began talking about doing it again the next year. Rather than do it again at the same place, it was suggested that each gathering would be initiated by a different person in a new location. The following summer, it just so happened that one of the members owned a resort in Utah, so she organized one there. We again had about 24 members, but also had non-members during seminars. By the close of the second Gathering, we were determined that we would have one
every year.
This year's Gathering will be in Wimberly, Texas. The group has become so enthusiastic about it that it looks like we'll have at least 40 in attendance.
You should run this idea by your e-mail list. Once they try gatherings, they'll wonder why they hadn't started sooner.
Rick
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