A thread from @melissaanelli on #EstherDay: Every Saturday at LeakyCon, we gather to dance our faces off at the ball. We originally called it the Rocking Charity Ball. In 2010, we renamed it. Now it’s named after Esther Earl, who was one of our first attendees.

I met her briefly then; she was slight and full of smiles and exuberance. During that weekend, she also forged a friendship with John and Hank Green, who were guests at our event.

The next year, for Esther, John and Hank helped the HP Alliance crush a competition to win a huge round of funding.

We tried to get Esther to the ceremonial presentation of the award at Infinitus (a 2010 Harry Potter con), but it wasn’t in the cards; Esther’s thyroid cancer was advancing, and travel was difficult.

We called her in via video, and hundreds of fans lined up to talk to her and tell her they appreciated and loved her. I went last. I promised that whatever it took, we would get her to LeakyCon 2011.

Esther died in August of that year. Before she did, John and Hank asked her to name something they could do every year for her birthday. She could have said literally anything, made any request, and they would have honored it.

She asked that we use the day to talk about love, and friendship. “Love is so lovely,” she said in one of her last videos.
And so Esther Day — a day when you tell people who aren’t family that you love them — was born.

Esther knew the power of friendship and community, and made it her legacy. So we made her ours. Now she’s at every LeakyCon, and we celebrate this day in person at every minute of every convention.

This Esther Day, we are sad to be apart from all of our friends. We should be traveling home from Leaky right now, full of memories, reunions, and new friendships.

To our LeakyCon community, we love you and are going to keep fighting for you. Thank you, Esther. We love you. /end thread