I’ve been doing okay with *all this* but today I was supposed to get on a plane to Rome to hang out with my people and now I feel the despair closing in.
So I’m going to do a thread of friends I met at #JIB in an effort to cheer myself up. In no particular order:

My first-ever JIB friend and current podcast partner in crime @idonthaveaharp is one of the lowkey funniest people around, extremely tolerant of my too many emotions, and up for anything including getting matching tattoos with someone she just met

Randomly met @LauraLikesStuff in line for autos, we hit it off, and the next year we were roommates in the Hilton. She’s never on Twitter but you need to know she’s gorgeous, an incredible baker, and once rescued me from getting hit on by a businessman in the Hilton bar

My dearest @wendigofucker witnessed the JenMish nonsense that nearly ended me at JIB9, then at JIB10 had the misfortune of sitting in front of me while I grabbed her and screamed about Cockles. A talented artist, a true DeanCas warrior, always Christina From Greece to me

I admired @amwritingmeta’s musings - found out she would be at JIB10, made her be my friend
She has a beautiful soul, a brilliant mind, and a wicked sense of humor. We wandered the streets of Rome, talking SPN meta, eating pasta, drinking rosé. We’ll do it again my friend

My last-minute seatmate at JIB10 @alessiawayward is a true Roman who takes no shit. Thank you for making us feel so welcome in your hometown

Imagine you meet a new fandom friend and it comes up that they write fic. It turns out they are one of your FAVORITE writers!!! That’s @violetmatter and I’m lucky to call her a friend - she’s one of the kindest & coolest people ever and she can demolish a giant gelato

Also stalked @nataliefisher and made her be my friend - she paid me back by breaking my feet on a late-night tour of Rome. There’s no one whose SPN opinions I trust more and when she writes I get very angry at her brilliance. Someday we’ll be on the same continent again

I call this photo “3 redheads yelling about how Rome is fake, probably”
But it also contains @mirfain, another lovely friend I made and who received something of a fandom baptism by fire

JIB was one of only two times I’ve gotten to see her in person. She came to visit me at home after the con and what I wouldn’t give to be here again, together. Love you, miss you @walkonwildlife

If you’re not in this thread, it’s not because I don’t love and miss you! It’s because I got tired and my memory is terrible. If we met at JIB, please come and tell me what you remember. I was probably drunk and/or nervous
I can’t wait until whenever we’re all back in Rome