It's hard to believe this conference has gone on for 10 years

It's hard to believe this conference has been going on for 10 years now. Since it only meets every other year, the years add up fast.

It was started from a conversation at an FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation) Annual Meeting in about 1998. People who attended that first conference in 1999 have told me that they were all nervous about meeting. Everyone was pretty tense. After 10 years though, a really good group of women tends to come back year after year. We feel like there are warm bonds among the women that reach across that 2-year span and kind of draw us back together for another chance to connect.

That's especially true for women who've been part of the planning committees. Each planning committee has been unique, but the friendships that develop have been important to the development and continuation of the conference. We always look forward to meeting. In the planning process, we have a chance to live out the ideals of mutual respect and understanding that we hope the conference is nurturing.

This year, because of travel costs, we decided to try to have most of our meetings by conference call. It's not as warm and intimate as the quarterly retreats were, that we used to do. They're still pretty fun though. And they seem to be productive. Guess we'll find out how it works. Lots of other national and international Quaker committees meet this way. We have had two retreats, and may have one more. Still haven't met Lorna Long, from Derby Friends Church, yet. I'm looking forward to that.