<This is repost from my FA journal to share with folks that haven’t seen it>
So, for those of you that don’t know, I recently attended Campfire Tails or CFT as its called. Its an outdoor fur con out in the middle of the deserts of eastern Oregon. I found this one evening on a FA banner, and in a surge of impulse and excitement I registered and signed up for the event just a few hours shy of the registration closure. At the time I knew nobody in attendance, or even much an inkling as to what I was getting into at the time but ended up doing it anyway.
Over the time between then and when CFT started I went an met Sl8 and a couple of his friends, got my credit card stolen, and completely died of anticipation. Though this anticipation did decay into apprehension as that month passed, and after a few events compounded into each other the night before I panicked and nearly backed out of it all. And truthfully, if it weren’t for the support of my friends I would never have had the guts to pick myself up off the floor and get in the car with feverish determination.
And after a somewhat rough drive of stomach knots and traffic, I finally arrive to a nearly empty campsite. I eventually run into somebody, xpanther xpanther who greats me warmly and directs me to set up camp and report back. From there, its a tide of work, and awkward introductions as things go together and setup begins.
Afterwards, we all gather up and have few drinks around the fire and toss a few jokes around with some introductions here and there. Thats where I meet Star, Crowley, Crazy Joe, Riley, CK, and others. I was a bit unprepared about how kind and friendly they were having never seen me, short of a few stray posts on the CFT forums. Its an odd feeling, being accepted out of the blue like that, just for simply being there, and we all just clicked together so nicely.
The days that followed involved pot scrubbing, bonding, sunburn, dam building, and some very, very, crude jokes, I learn some things about furs:
We come from all sorts of places, familiar and far away. We come from all walks of life, eccentric and plain. Regardless of whether or not we were DJ corgis, bubbly huskies, down to earth dingoes, or even hawks that scrub pots for hours on end - we are all one and the same. Furries. A term held with a particular social stigma, banished completely by this last week. This community, and the bonds we built in the dust and heat of the desert that week are irreplaceable. If it wasn’t a cute song thats better than beiber, making wonderful food, or having a crowd of people all squawking at me until I squawked back, it was knowing that I belonged where I was.
Maybe it was seeing the happiness, mischief, and even budding romance out there, but I just can’t imagine myself not being apart of this anymore. The events were all a blast, from cooking eggs with a tin can, to mad libs, or even the glow in the dark Phoenix dance, even just seeing people all the food we slaved to serve happy and full. Everything was perfect, even the sun burn. (The lotion rubbing made me melt a bit :p)
There are people in this world that have known be as Brian. Some people might even still know me as Vincent. And now, people know me as Hawkfeather. I’ve waited my whole life for this, and I now know that these people are who I belong with. I am a furry, no doubt, no regrets. And if anybody says otherwise, they can kiss my cloaca.
I will give a more solid con report this weekend when the dust settles. Until then, keep doing what you do you strange and lovely critters.
