On being retroactively thrilled

Charlie Nesson pulled me aside during the break between the third and fourth sessions of the Global Voices conference yesterday and asked me if I was having a good time. I told him, “I will retroactively have a great time. Which is to say, I’m so busy and crazy right now, I can’t really tell if it’s going well, but I bet I’ll be thrilled tomorrow.”

It’s tomorrow, and I’m thrilled.

It all started to make sense to me last night. Dan Gillmor and I sat in the lobby of the Paddington Hilton and sipped our drinks as a cavalcade of Global Voices folks came in from the London night. After introducing Dan to the dozenth amazing blogger to pass by our table, Dan turned to me and said, “Do you have any idea how lucky you are to get to work with all these people?”

I do. What I’m now able to realize, with a few hour’s distance from yesterday’s Global Voices summit: Over the past year, Rebecca and I have had the chance to meet – virtually and in person – an amazing array of brilliant bloggers from all over the world. I tend to forget that most people aren’t aware of the diversity, strength and brilliance of this group. This, I think, includes most of our bloggers, who had the powerful experience of discovering they’re part of something much bigger than they’d previously imagined.

It took a few months to figure out what Global Voices was going to be after our first meeting a year ago today. I think it’s going to be a few months more before we know what emerges from this year’s meeting. But for me personally, the experience of nursing a beer and saying hello dozens of my amazing friends, one after the other, is something I won’t forget any time soon.