I have written more than a few times about my Manic Mommies, as well as my annual pilgrimage to Escape with them the first weekend in November each year. Since there is no Escape this year, I thought it would be nice to flip through my photos, my memories, and revisit those I am missing today.
I first started listening to the Manic Mommies podcast just days after their second Escape, which was a cruise that I could tell was a not-to-miss event. I immediately made plans to attend the next escape in Napa, but my plans ended up falling through at the last second. By the time November came around again, I knew I was going to be showing up in San Antonio for the third annual event.
When I landed in San Antonio and made my way to the reception, I was freaking out. I knew no one except the two stars of the podcast who I knew VERY well, but only in a eaves-dropping-stalker kind of way. I remember vividly sitting down at a table with the Roman sisters (minus Rosa who was having a baby) and made a new friend in Laura too. Of course I felt like I knew them all nearly immediately, we were all cut from the same cloth after all. I spent the rest of the weekend teamed up with Laura and her friend learning all about San Antonio and Twitter as we participated in a scavenger hunt. There were countless new faces to remember, and new friends were made from all over.
Nothing could keep me away from Escaping the following year. I was so excited to see Aari, Kat, Laura, the Roman girls (now including Rosa), and SO MANY MORE again. Thanks to Chevy I was able to drive a Traverse to the beautiful New Orleans, and I was able to bring my own New Orleans expert and friend Melissa with me too. I wrote about that road trip in more detail here and here. I now know that the only way to eat a praline is when it is only seconds old and I learned how to make them just like that as well thanks to the New Orleans School of Cooking.
As usual, the Manic Mommies picked Savannah, another city to which I had never been before. Fortunately Chevy came through with a Chevy Road trip in a Traverse so I was able to bring along two of my best friends. Savannah has a city wide policy to put something in every morsel of food to make it taste like it was dropped straight from Heaven. I “ran” my first ever 5k, and FINALLY took a Chevy convertible joyride too.
Last November I cancelled my trip to the New Mexico Escape (home to the famous Rosa) due to a commitment I had made at home. I promised myself when I made the decision to not go, I was not going to be bitter about it no matter what. That promise was put to the test when later that year Erin and Kristin decided to put their mics down and step away from the podcast. This was such a crushing blow that most of us still can’t fully process it and few of us acknowledge it at all. Denial is a powerful tool, but none of us can ignore the fact that we are supposed to be some place warm and having a cocktail together tonight. Fortunately, all of us try to make the most of these connections to visit with each other whenever and wherever we can, as some of them are doing in New York this weekend. But here is the best news of all…we have at least one of them talking about Escaping again next year in honor of the 10th anniversary of Escape number 1. Hey, it’s something ladies! Oh, and please feel free to add to my memories and photos below.
November 8, 2015 @ 6:21 am
We have been talking about you and all the Manic Mommies we miss throughout the weekend. I so hope you’re right about the 10th anniversary.
Hugs and love and laughter my friend!
November 8, 2015 @ 11:39 pm
Hi, I have a group of friends that met through Manic Mommies too (although we never made it to an escape). We live in 3 different states and would love an excuse to get together. So if you are planning something with your group, the 4 of us might like to meetup.