PAX South tickets are on sale and I realized I haven’t written about my last experience. So here’s my belated thoughts on my second annual January San Antonio vacation.
I was at PAX South for the first time in 2016. This last January, Jake and I returned. PAX South 2017 was everything I needed it to be and I’m so thankful I didn’t chicken out and not go. I was so nervous because not only was it my first vacation/outing out of the city in a year (I’ve been dealing with a lot of medical issues), it was my first outing in a wheelchair. Like I had mentioned in an earlier post, I can’t walk well anymore and I use a wheelchair to get around. I was nervous because I had no idea how accessible everything at the conference center would be, I didn’t know I’d handle the inability to be in control of my own motion (I don’t have a lot of strength in my arms either so Jake pushed me everywhere), and I was worried about how friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile would react to seeing me immobile.
Thankfully my worries were for nothing; the actual trip was above and beyond my highest expectations. The two main reasons for that were: the incredible PAX enforcers who helped me get my medical badge and made sure EVERYTHING was accessible to me; and my beautiful amazing welcoming wonderful friends who greeted me with open flying tackle hugs. It was a long and exhausting weekend and I paid for it in the following week (I slept a lot), but it was worth it. So worth it. Which is why we are going back for Pax South 2018!! To get myself even more excited about 2018, check out my PAX 2017 photos (and friends) from earlier this year:
These little trips and events are what my soul needs right now. I need to remember that I still have a life – my therapist is constantly reminding me that. I still have the ability to live it just involves a lot more planning now. This past year I wasn’t living. I was simply waiting. Waiting for answers. Waiting for cures. Waiting for things to get better. But it’s taking too damn long and I’m done waiting. I need to take things into my own hands, as weak as they are, and start living again. And if living more means taking a bunch more naps when I can get them, then so be it. PAX South is my reminder that I still have friends who haven’t forgotten me, that I’m still capable of having fun, and that the world is still out there ready for me to explore.
To end, I just want to say thank you to everyone at PAX for making this experience so memorable and so perfect. I cannot wait to see all the Enforcers and my beautiful friends again. If you haven’t gotten your own PAX South tickets, they’re still on sale! Get yours now!
PAX South 2018 or Bust!