Longer than having a baby!

For the past year or so I've been a bit player in the Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2011 Conference, "Pathway to the Heartland." You know what? Giving birth to a national conference is a lot like having a baby, except the planning takes longer.*

Proud parents are national conference co-chairs, Josh Taylor and Paula Stuart-Warren. Proud godparents are Susie Pope and David Kent Coy, co-chairs for the local host society, the Illinois State Genealogical Society. I guess that makes FGS president, Pat Oxley, the doting grandmother, and all the FGS and local committee chairs are beaming aunts and uncles.

Everyone involved has worked hard to give the conference goers, Librarian Day attendees, Ancestry Day registrants, and FamilySearch Kids Camp participants the best life possible. The parents have planned and prepared as much as they can. Just as real parents discover, some things you just can't plan for; you deal with them as they happen. 

This child grows quickly: a week later, it's over until next year, when the whole process repeats itself in another city. Of course, planning for the next child has been underway for awhile. Conference parents examine what worked and didn't with the older children, and with this child, so they can do better next time.

Many "family" members are already in Springfield, soon to be joined by the rest of the clan, preparing for the delivery. If you're attending, perhaps we'll meet. Please say hi! If you've been involved at all in the birth of this baby, a big thanks for all your efforts. Virtual cigars all around!
 
(*Disclosure: I don't have kids. Also, to you who have had difficulty conceiving; who are adoptive and adopted; and who have lost children, I am sensitive to your situations, and ask that you take this post in the light-hearted way in which it was intended. )