Thank-you for being at the show (Hamvention Saturday)

Up at 5:30 AM Saturday instead of 5 because we opted for McDonald's take-out breakfast rather than the hotel's sit-down breakfast, so I got a little more much-needed beauty rest.

Saturday at Hamvention was like Friday at Hamvention. Thousands of people visited our booth and I interacted with hundreds of them. A half-dozen Femulate readers, who are hams, visited me at the booth (you know who you are) and it was great seeing and chatting with them all in person.

Late Saturday morning, I made a grand tour of the convention trying to visit the various booths that had I planned ahead of time to visit or any that caught my eye during my quick sweep of the convention floor on Friday.

During the tour, a woman seated at a booth I was passing by asked me to sign their visitor's log. The booth belonged to the Young Ladies' Radio League (YLRL), which is an organization for women with amateur radio licenses. The woman seated at the booth asked me if I was interesting in joing the YLRL. I told her I was interested and she handed me a pamphlet about the organization for later reading.

A few minutes later, the chairman of Hamvention stopped me and introduced himself.

He said, "You're with AMSAT, right?" (AMSAT is another ham radio organization that happened to have a booth right next to ours.)

"No, I'm with TAPR."

He said, "Well, I've seen you around Hamvention and just want to thank you and TAPR for being at the show."

"You're welcome."

In all my past years working our booth in boy mode, no Hamvention chairperson ever thanked me (or my group) for being at the show. I wonder if my short skirt made a difference this year?

Fashion Note: During the day, I wore my favorite dress, my JCPenney black and white print A-line dress, suntan pantyhose, Nine West red and black patent Mary-Jane pumps, matching ShoeDazzle red bag, and jewelry (necklace, earrings, watch) that complimented the outfit I wore a red shade of lipstick to match my shoes and bag. For the cookout, I wore my DressBarn "Bordered Abstract Dress and Bolero Duet" again with suntan pantyhose, Newport News black patent open-toed sling-backs, Kohl's black hobo bag, and jewelry (necklace, earrings, watch) that complimented the outfit.
After an exhaustive day at Hamvention, we returned to the hotel for a half-hour break before the last event of my Hamvention weekend.

I shaved and touched up my makeup quickly, changed outfits and met the boys in the lobby. As we departed, I noticed Joy at the front desk. I had not seen her since I checked in and I waved at her. She returned the wave and asked if I was enjoying my stay. Then she and the other woman working the front desk gushed over my dress. I thanked them and departed to attend a cookout at the home of Tom, one our group's officers.

Tom invites me every year to his cookout and I usually turn him down because of a schedule conflict. This was the first year I did not have a conflict, so I could attend, but I was hesitant. I did not want to impose my transgender on Tom's family and friends, who I did not know. But after a very affirming two days at Hamvention, I accepted at the last minute.

Again, I had nothing to worry about. Tom and his wife were perfect hosts and their friends interacted with me like the guys at the banquet the night before.They were polite, respectful, very friendly and they even got the pronouns right.

It was difficult calling it a night. On the one hand, I had a 12 hour trip facing me on Sunday, so turning in and getting a good night's rest was a good idea, but calling it a night also meant that my Hamvention weekend was over and I was having such a great time, I didn't want it to end.

But there is always next year.